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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29172510">The Secrets of Kingdom Hearts III: The Book of Prophecies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lisagoth/pseuds/Lisagoth'>Lisagoth</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Secrets of Kingdom Hearts [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Book of Prophecies (Kingdom Hearts), Game: Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Not Canon Compliant - Kingdom Hearts III, Not Canon Compliant - Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind DLC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:21:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>30,492</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29172510</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lisagoth/pseuds/Lisagoth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Just as our heroes thought that the battle with Darkness is all over, they realize that a plan has already been set in motion to revive Kingdom Hearts.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Secrets of Kingdom Hearts [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139723</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Reacquainted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Out of all the books, I have taken the most creative freedom with this one, mostly because we're getting into post Kingdom Hearts III territory. This book also uses inspiration from Kingdom Hearts: Union X with Book of Prophecies (hence the title) but since that too is very vague, I have taken A LOT of liberty with it. This is also the last of the series for now unless I have something more substantial to work with.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Isa decides to drop in to see Lea again after being away for three years. He notices that something is amiss.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been three years since the Keyblade War had united seven intrepid individuals with a single, noble purpose against the powers of Darkness. For all of them, who had fought on various sides of the Darkness, they had been battling it for so long that upon the conclusion of the Keyblade War, they were in disbelief that it was really over. They enjoyed the periods of peace that they had experienced and lived their lives as any other person would, building a legacy for themselves, being with friends, and just dealing with the day to day operations that come with struggles and triumphs along the way. After a year had passed, and then another year, there was a certain level of complacency, not only in their question of if the Darkness would ever return, but also a wonder if it had all been just a dream.</p>
<p>So it was, as Isa had established a very comfortable career for himself at Radiant Garden’s Finance Ministry, he found himself thinking about his past and his old childhood friend when he came across a newspaper that named Lea as the world’s youngest billionaire, thanks to his development of the VR program, which was used in the military, in medical schools, and any form of entertainment and education out there. “That bastard did it!” Isa exclaimed excitedly. “I can’t believe it!” It had been so long since he had any contact with him, that he hoped time had not changed him. After looking Lea up, Isa decided to pay him a visit.</p>
<p>Isa found out that Lea still lived in Twilight Town. It did not really come by as much of a surprise that he acquired what was once called the Abandoned Mansion. Lea had often sought to steadfastly tether himself to anything that bore any kind of meaning to him at some point in life, an eccentricity that Isa was never able to quite figure out. In the case of the Abandoned Mansion, this was where Lea as his Nobody Axel had met with his friend, fellow Nobody Roxas for one last time before they were reunited in their human forms.</p>
<p>When Isa arrived to what was now called just Twilight Mansion, he paused to admire its updated façade. There was a time when it appeared rundown and overgrown. Now, it looked almost sterile but had a modern twist to it. Isa approached the gates and hit the call button, which was connected to a speaker. Lea’s voice came through: “Who is it?”</p>
<p>“Lea?” Isa said into the speaker.</p>
<p>The silence that followed was so long, Isa thought the speaker was broken and was going to press the call button again, until Lea’s voice finally came back: “Isa?” Before Isa could say anything else, he heard a loud buzz as the gate opened to allow Isa to enter. Isa went in and shut the gate behind him. He was still ascending the porch steps when he saw Lea abruptly open the front door and stand by the threshold. Not much had changed in his appearance. He still had that wild red hair, which he wore long and spiked, but this time it was loosely pulled back. His choice of clothing was rather bland: a simple white tee shirt that clung to his long and wiry torso, faded jeans, and black boots. He looked either tired or worn out. “What are you doing here?” he asked in a manner that could be construed as suspicious.  </p>
<p>“Really? After everything we’ve been through and after all this time? At the very least, a simple ‘Hello’ would suffice,” Isa replied.</p>
<p>“Oh. Sorry. But like you said, it’s been so long since we’ve last talked, and now all of a sudden you show up at my door.”</p>
<p>“Well it was hard <em>not</em> to think of you when I came across this.” Isa handed Lea the paper.</p>
<p>Upon reading the headline, Lea said wryly, “Ah, so now it makes sense! You want money.”</p>
<p>“What? Far be it from me! I’ll have you know I’m doing fine on my own. I work at the Finance Ministry at Radiant Garden.”</p>
<p>“Government, huh? Figures.”</p>
<p>“What is that supposed to mean?”</p>
<p>“Well, you’ve always liked being in some position of authority.”</p>
<p>“And you don’t?”</p>
<p>“I like playing by my own rules. I don’t care if other people follow it or not.”</p>
<p>Lea led them through the living room and into the kitchen. Gone was the rustic, dated appearance that was once the interior. Everything was either white or made of chrome and looked very bare but otherwise clean. It reminded Isa of the inside of Castle Oblivion.</p>
<p>They sat at the kitchen counter, which was also completely bare except for a lone piece of peanut butter sandwich. Isa laughed at the sight of it. “You know, I’m starting to think you really don’t know how to feed yourself.”</p>
<p>“What?” Lea asked defensively. “It’s just a snack.”</p>
<p>“You eat like a kid! Every time I see you eat, it’s either sea salt ice-cream or that! You have enough money to get yourself a dietician, so why don’t you?”</p>
<p>Lea rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to blow money just because I have it.”</p>
<p>“So you run the company from home?”</p>
<p>“Well, actually Xion runs it.”</p>
<p>“Xion?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. She’s really good at multi-tasking. You can teach her anything, and she’ll know how to do it forever!”</p>
<p>“So where is she now?”</p>
<p>“Somewhere around here.”</p>
<p>“She lives with you?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“And where’s Ven?”</p>
<p>“Somewhere.”</p>
<p>“What does that mean?”</p>
<p>“He’s kind of transient. He’ll stay here if he’s around.”</p>
<p>“What does he do that always puts him on the move?”</p>
<p>“Oh.” Lea appeared to hesitate as he reflected on his answer. “Well, he’s a mercenary.”</p>
<p>“A mercenary? Ven?” Isa laughed.</p>
<p>“Are you really that surprised? I mean, he was trained as a soldier since he was a kid.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but…” Isa tried to visualize the calm, easy-going Ventus killing people. It looked so pathological. “So Ven is off doing his own thing, Xion does your work… and what exactly do you do all day?”</p>
<p>Lea shrugged. “Whatever I feel like,” was his only reply.</p>
<p>Isa studied his old friend. For someone who appeared successful, he had never seen Lea so withdrawn and unhappy. There was something missing, but at this point Isa loathed to ask. What was initially a mere casual conversation was turning into an interrogation.</p>
<p>After some awkward silence, Lea asked, “So… you want a beer?”</p>
<p>“Now you’re talking!”</p>
<p>Lea explained to Isa that he typically drinks on the roof. Isa thought that was weird, but he agreed. They went up to the attic where there was a ladder and a small window that allowed for easy access outside. He brought with him a six pack that they shared. It was nighttime, not a cloud in the sky, which gave way to a clear visual of the moon. As they sat there, drinking and staring at the night sky, Isa started to understand the appeal. “So you don’t go to the Clock Tower anymore?” Isa asked.</p>
<p>Lea shrugged impassively. “Why bother when I can come here?”</p>
<p>“Ven and Xion come up here with you?”</p>
<p>“When Ven is around, he will come up here with me. But Xion doesn’t really like the roof… or drinking for that matter.”</p>
<p>“You do this by yourself?”</p>
<p>“Many times.”</p>
<p>“That can get awfully lonely.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, I don’t feel like I can relate to others anymore, do you?” Lea’s response was snappier than how he wanted it to come out.</p>
<p>Isa knew that Lea was referring to their time in the Organization and their fight with the Darkness. Over the past three years since his return to Radiant Garden, Isa found that most people were not really aware that such a struggle between the Realms of Light and Darkness had taken place at all. It was either like it had never happened, or such events had taken place so long ago, that they were really more legend than history. Rather, they seemed to be more of the understanding that a natural disaster had befallen their town. This was apparently a side effect of when Riku, Keyblade Master, closed off the final portal between the two realms. The only others who were cognizant of the battles that had taken place were King Ansem the Wise and Yensid. Isa had given up asking people about it, especially since Ansem had outright discouraged Isa from bringing it up constantly. It was their burden to be keepers of the knowledge they bore. Isa had eventually learned how to be okay with this, but apparently, Lea did not.</p>
<p>Lea had just finished the last of their beer. “You know, Ven should be arriving back here in the morning if you want to hang out until then,” he suggested.</p>
<p>Isa shrugged. “Sure, why not?” He wondered if Lea really missed having company, but a short time later, Lea retired to his room.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Reunion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Isa sees Ventus and Xion again.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Isa woke up rather early in the morning. This was surprising to him, considering that he did not sleep very well at all that night. He could not help but feel a little troubled – or maybe that was guilt – about what he had observed the day before. Maybe if he had kept in touch before now he would not be asking all these questions. After the Keyblade War ended, Isa felt determined to establish himself in society and make his own way, but he had lost contact with everyone in the process.</p>
<p>Isa went to the bathroom to get himself ready and glanced in the mirror. He recalled a time, when he was a Nobody, that there was a large X that went across his face. It was an insignia to remind him that he was not human. It gave him a more savage look. Now that it was gone, he fancied that his features remained austere. He liked this, as he believed that people took him quite seriously just for his appearance alone. He had long blue hair with steely blue eyes to match and elf ears that jutted behind the tendrils that framed the face. After quickly refreshing himself, he felt that he was ready to come down.</p>
<p>Already, he could hear voices talking downstairs. He saw the trio gathered in the kitchen. Lea and Xion seemed amused with whatever Ventus was telling them. Xion looked exactly the same as she did three years ago. One could suppose that she may be about fifteen years old, although chronologically she was actually four. Ventus was facing away from Isa. The last time he saw Ventus, he recalled him being rather sinewy. Even from the back, Isa could tell that Ventus became much more rugged. Ventus was alerted of Isa’s presence when he noticed Lea and Xion suddenly looking up past his shoulder. As Ventus turned his head, Isa was able to see that he maintained his boyish looks. Isa still had a hard time picturing Ventus as a mercenary. “Oh?” Ventus said with an arched eyebrow by way of greeting. “So you really are here!”</p>
<p>“Hello to you too, Ven,” Isa replied coolly.</p>
<p>Ventus grinned in response. “What brings you to the Twilight side of the world?”</p>
<p>“I figured that I was away for too long, so I decided to drop in and see how you guys are doing.”</p>
<p>“Yes. Three years has been a really long time. Do you still live in Radiant Garden?”</p>
<p>“I do. You know the town has grown a lot since you’ve been away.”</p>
<p>“Does this mean it’s been restored to its original state?”</p>
<p>“Not quite. Actually, I don’t think that is their intention at all. There’s been talk that they want it to look more like Daybreak Town.”</p>
<p>“Daybreak Town? That was way before the founding of Radiant Garden!”</p>
<p>“True, but a lot of its current inhabitants don’t remember Radiant Garden or its culture. They want something that provides a more universal appeal. In fact, there is a festival tomorrow at the Courtyard Gardens if you want to come.”</p>
<p>Lea attempted to find excuses that would prevent them from attending, but Xion turned to him in shock. “Well, I want to go!” she protested. “I haven’t been outside of Twilight Town in a long time. A festival sounds like fun!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, we can <em>all</em> go,” Ventus agreed all too eagerly. “I’m sure whatever you plan on doing tomorrow, Lea, you can do the day after. Xion can even help you out if you want.”</p>
<p>Lea glared at Ventus. “Can’t you ever side with me on anything?”</p>
<p>“But I <em>am</em> on your side,” Ventus insisted. “It’ll be good for you. And Xion <em>really</em> wants to go.”</p>
<p>Lea exhaled in frustration. He looked like he wanted to argue his points further but decided not to. He turned to Isa. “All right, we’ll be there.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Break</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The gang attend a festival in Courtyard Gardens. Ventus lets Isa in on a secret.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The festival at Radiant Garden was the first of its kind since Darkness had initially descended upon it. This was a moment of triumph for the town, for it was once one of the most devastated places in the world. The Darkness had turned many of its citizens into Nobodies. The town itself ended up getting renamed Hollow Bastion as it became desolate and devoid of any life. All that remained was the castle. Then when Sora defeated the heartless there, and when he and Riku closed the door that led to the Realm of Darkness, the Castle of Radiant Garden was restored to its former glory. Ansem was able to slowly rebuild with inhabitants from all over the world. When Ansem discovered documents related to Daybreak Town, the people wanted to celebrate its history and create a new kind of tradition.</p>
<p>The Courtyard Gardens was an open square from inside the castle walls which was typically reserved for guard training or royal ceremonies; but for the festival, it traded its somber appearance with a lighthearted one. There were booths lining up every corner that had games and sold carnival-type food. Lea, Ventus, and Xion all met Isa at the entrance, where he handed them their tickets for admission. Lea was about to protest, but Isa assured him that he got his for free since he worked inside the castle. The festival really catered to the children, which Lea found off-putting, but for Xion, it was an absolute delight. Lea grudgingly trailed after her as she went from booth to booth to play the games and bought every kind of food there was. She bought two bars of sea salt ice-cream and gave one of them to Lea, which made him perk up a little. With Isa and Ventus straggling farther behind, Isa used this opportunity to speak with Ventus. Pulling him aside, Isa murmured, “Does Lea look a little strained to you lately?”</p>
<p>He saw Ventus catch his breath. “Oh. So you noticed.”</p>
<p>Isa was surprised by Ventus’ reaction. “You mean you <em>know</em> what’s going on?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. But I don’t want to talk about it here. Can we do it somewhere more private?”</p>
<p>“Sure. We’ll head to my place.”</p>
<p>Isa and Ventus left the festival and went to Isa’s living quarters, a two-story townhouse. Ventus took his time to admire it, which was small, but neatly decorated. “I like what you did here,” Ventus offered meekly.</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s no mansion,” Isa replied dryly, “not that I think Lea enjoys his. He looks like he barely lives off of anything. I’m even getting the impression that he’s become a recluse.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, he’s not comfortable being too far from home or outside of familiar territory. He even does the same thing every day and gets annoyed when his routine gets disrupted. It’s his way of coping.”</p>
<p>“Coping with what?”</p>
<p>“Come on, Isa: you know how he is! Well, things got especially bad about a month ago. When he bought the mansion, he had gutted out a lot of it and came upon a book called the Book of Prophecies. After reading it, he had a psychotic break. He made no sense for three days. He just kept ranting about how everything was doomed to repeat itself. It was the only thing he ever talked about for the longest time. Ever since then he’s had a rather tenuous grasp on reality. I tried reading some of the book myself. It was just gibberish. I took it to Ansem, and we found out that there was actually <em>five</em> of these books in total. I’ve been trying to find the others ever since just so we can have some closure about what it all means.”</p>
<p>“So you’ve been looking for four books for a month? Is that part of your mercenary work?”</p>
<p>Ventus grinned wryly at Isa. “Oh, no. This is personal.”</p>
<p>“Have you made any progress?”</p>
<p>“Well, at the very least I’ve discovered the locations of some of them, but I don’t think it’s possible to recover <em>all</em> of them. One of them is located in Castle Oblivion, and that place does not even exist anymore. Another one, however, is in the Castle of Radiant Garden.”</p>
<p>“So what would finding all the books do?”</p>
<p>“To be honest with you, I don’t know yet, but I have a dreadful feeling that it is going to lead us straight to Kingdom Hearts.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Tome of Perception</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lea tells Isa about his discovery.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Meanwhile, back at the festival, Xion bought a charm and was eager to show it to Lea. “Isn’t it cute?” she asked him, as she presented to him the little cat-like anthropomorphic figurine.</p>
<p>Lea, however, seemed anything but pleased at the sight of it. “What is that?” he asked tersely.</p>
<p>“It’s a Chirithy,” she explained. “Legend calls them Dream Eaters who oversee their companion’s dreams. They can turn into both Spirit and Nightmare forms.”</p>
<p>“Xion, why would you buy something like that? I don’t need to be reminded of nightmares!”</p>
<p>“It’s just a toy, Lea,” she sulked.</p>
<p>“I don’t care! Return it!”</p>
<p>“But –”</p>
<p>Lea grabbed the Chirithy from her hand and chucked it as far as he could. Xion felt a little flustered but decided to say nothing. She realized that the more she tried to reason with him, the angrier and louder he got, and people were already looking at them to see what the fuss was about. She changed the subject and asked if he wanted to see the show that was about to take place. Although he really was not up for it, he started to feel guilty for throwing her toy away, and so he reluctantly agreed.</p>
<p>Lea and Xion sat at the sidelines, waiting for the show to start. It was a reenactment – or more accurately, perhaps a re-imagining – of what life was like in Daybreak Town. Back then, there was constant light all the time. People protected themselves by means of wearing robes and masks. These robes were quite colorful, and the masks themselves were fashioned to look like the faces of animals. Lea could not help but snicker when he saw the costumes. He leaned over and whispered to Xion, “You know, ours was better.” She returned a smile and continued to watch the show.</p>
<p>Lea’s eyes drifted past the performers as he began scanning the faces of the audience on the other side of him. All the children were up front so that they could see easily. The adults were right behind them. Further back were the castle guards. He was indolently looking at them until he stopped at one in particular that had an eye patch over his right eye. He knew without a doubt who this was: it was Braig, the human counterpart of Xigbar, formally Organization Member Number 2. He was also watching the show. Lea must have stared at him for a very long time, because Braig’s gaze suddenly fell on him. At that moment when their eyes locked, he could have sworn a sneer broke out from Braig’s lips. Lea felt himself reeling as panic started setting in. He seized Xion by the arm. “We have to go, Xion,” he whispered earnestly.</p>
<p>“But the show’s only halfway –” she began.</p>
<p>“Now! I’ll tell you all about it later.” He got up and yanked her away with him.</p>
<p>When Isa and Ventus returned to the festival, they could not find Lea or Xion anywhere. One of the castle guards mentioned to them that he saw a tall guy with red hair abruptly drag out a little girl with black hair during the show. “Oh, no,” Ventus groaned miserably. “He must have returned home. At least he’s predictable in <em>that </em>way.”</p>
<p>“You want to go back?”</p>
<p>“If you don’t mind going after them, I got to go talk with Ansem about one of the books that’s in this castle.”</p>
<p>Isa returned to Twilight Mansion, where he was received by a rather dour Xion, followed by a very excitable Lea. “Isa – did you know that Braig is back?!” he asked wildly. His hair was messier than usual from pulling at it, and his eyes were so large that for a minute all Isa could see was the green coloring of his irises.</p>
<p>“Well, yeah, he <em>was</em> a castle guard in his former life, <em>remember</em>?”</p>
<p>“So you knew he was here <em>this whole time</em>?!” Lea looked like he was ready to explode.</p>
<p>“Calm down,” Isa said, waving his hand dismissively. “I saw him three years ago after the Keyblade War. I tried to accost him then, but he really did not seem to recognize me. No one in Radiant Garden remembers anything about the Darkness, not even him.”</p>
<p>“But that’s what he <em>wants</em> you to think!” Lea insisted. “You weren’t there! He saw me, he looked at me with his one eye – and he was <em>smiling</em>!”</p>
<p>“Yes, Lea, I understand how that can be very threatening,” Isa deadpanned.</p>
<p>“You’re not even listening!” Lea scowled. He grabbed Isa by the lapel of his jacket and was pulling him. “Come on!”</p>
<p>Isa wrenched himself free from Lea’s clutches. “Where are we going?” he asked irritatingly.</p>
<p>“You want to know what I do all day, right? Well, I’ll show you.”</p>
<p>Lea took him behind a staircase, where there was a secret door that led to the basement. As they descended the stairs, they came to another door that was locked by a keypad. Lea told Isa to turn around while he punched in the code. When they entered the basement, Isa could not believe his eyes. Covering almost every wall was a weapon of some sort, mostly different kinds of swords. There was a fully operational forge and a smelter. At the back corner he saw a large computer. Other fixtures were covered underneath a tarp. At the center of the room was a long table with a single stool, which was where Lea did all his work. “So does Ven know about… your basement?” Isa asked uncertainly.</p>
<p>Lea shot Isa a contemptuous look. “Where do you think he gets his weapons from?” He came up to the table, picked up a book, and tossed it in Isa’s direction. “Open it,” he said.</p>
<p>With some hesitance, Isa picked up the book and studied its appearance. So this must be the Book of Prophecies. It looked like it was bound with some kind of leather. On the cover was a drawing of an eye, its outline emitting a radiant glow. The pages themselves seemed ancient and smelled very musty.</p>
<p>“Open the book!” Lea persisted heatedly. “Just read one page if you want, close it, and then read the same page again.”</p>
<p>With continued reluctance, Isa opened the book, picked the first page to read, closed it, and then read the same page again. Perplexed, he looked up at Lea, who he found had been studying Isa’s reaction closely that entire time. “I don’t understand,” Isa stammered.</p>
<p>“It’s called the Tome of Perception,” Lea explained. “Perceptions change all the time, as does the writing in the book.”</p>
<p>“But that’s not even possible!”</p>
<p>“Really? You’re going to question possibilities <em>now</em>?” Lea went over to one of the walls and picked up a sizeable claymore. “I think you know how to wield one of these.”</p>
<p>“What do you want me to do with that? Fight the heartless all over again? If you recall, they can only be defeated by the Power of Light.”</p>
<p>“Oh, good point.” Lea went over to one of the fixtures that was underneath a tarp and uncovered it. Isa saw that it looked just like the ray gun Lea used to destroy Castle Oblivion, only considerably smaller. “Braig could never figure out how to harness the Power of Light, but I did! You don’t need magic when you got science.” He held up the claymore to the ray gun, set the gun to the lowest setting, and watched as the light slowly permeated the claymore. “We thought we were <em>so</em> smart when we destroyed that dark portal! We thought we ended things! But little did we know, everything we have ever done and will do has already been accounted for. Everything is about to be reset, and it was already foretold!” Lea turned the ray gun off, quickly examined the claymore, and then tossed it to Isa.</p>
<p>Isa caught the claymore and marveled at its craftsmanship. “So… this is what you’ve been doing all month? Preparing for a new apocalypse?”</p>
<p>“I take it Ven told you some of that. Yes, I found the book a month ago. At first I tried to tell him, but he just dismissed me as being crazy, so I gave up and kept it to myself. But I’ve already seen some of the events unfolding, and we’re not even prepared!”</p>
<p>“Look, to be fair, Ven did not dismiss you about your concerns regarding the Book of Prophecies. In fact, he’s been trying to find the rest of them since you discovered this one. But, you know, I think it’s the way you’re handling all of this that is making him worried. He says that you sometimes can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what isn’t.”</p>
<p>Lea cast his eyes down to the ground as he considered Isa’s point. “Well, that’s one thing Ven is right about,” he muttered disconcertedly. “I’ve had moments where I feel like I’m about to lose myself. I mean, reading the book certainly made it worse, but even before then, it always bothered me that everyone seems okay with all of this.”</p>
<p>“No one is really okay with it. We just try to find a new normal.”</p>
<p>“That’s just it! I can’t find a new normal. Everything was constantly changing for us. How do I know things won’t just change again?”</p>
<p>“I guess you don’t. We all play with the cards we’re dealt with. But you know what’s ironic about this whole thing? As a Nobody, who was never supposed to exist, you didn’t have that many questions about your reality. Now that you’re a person, all of a sudden it becomes a problem.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, maybe it’s because things were simpler back then. Sometimes I wish I can go back to those times.”</p>
<p>“Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘Be careful what you wish for’?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know,” Lea chuckled, although this comment sounded like it was more to himself as he seemed distracted by his own thoughts. After a brief moment, he returned his attention to Isa. “So – aren’t you glad that you’re back in our lives with all this nonsense?”</p>
<p>“Well, ‘<em>glad</em>’ wouldn’t be the right word. But I’m not going to bail on you when you’re unwell.” This last statement fell on deaf ears as Lea appeared to once again be lost in his thoughts.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Yozora</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sora encounters Yozora; Riku suddenly cannot find him.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Meanwhile, at Destiny Islands, Sora and Riku were preparing for a day out at sea. Their lives were so different from that of their fellow former Keyblade wielders, who had all settled into a suburban lifestyle. After the Keyblade War, Sora and Riku became fishermen. If someone were to tell Riku seven years earlier that this would be his profession, he would have laughed. During his adolescent years, Riku had always yearned for something greater. He felt like he had much more to offer than what opportunities his home could afford. It was not until he lost Kairi, then Sora, then his eyesight, did he long for simpler days. To regain everything was to get another chance, and from that day on, he vowed not to be a terrible friend. This was a vow that he had kept close to his heart, but it did not make him a happier person. If anything, lately he had been feeling more apprehensive than usual. Going out to sea was something he and Sora had been doing since they were children, but lately he had this intense fear of drowning. Just a week before, their boat was caught in a terrible storm, the waters thrashing their little vessel back and forth like a ping pong ball. Riku’s life flashed before his eyes, and he recalled the day the Darkness swept them all away. Just when Riku thought that they would meet their end, as suddenly as the storm came, it had stopped. Riku and Sora were able to bring the boat back to land shortly after. Riku tried to laugh his nervousness away as he saw that Sora, for the most part, seemed unfazed by the whole thing, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. Riku had always been amazed that Sora could remain so calm in the midst of chaos. Sora was upset, though, that they did not catch enough fish.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Riku asked Sora to grab some nets before they set sail. Sora was running back to his hut for this purpose when he saw a path that did not look familiar to him. Forever with a curious mind, he decided to follow it. When the path ended on a clearing, he was a little disappointed. Just before making his way back, he saw Riku on the other side of the clearing. “Riku?” he called out. “How did you get here so fast?”</p>
<p>“Riku? That’s not my name.” The Riku lookalike was slowly advancing towards Sora. Now that Sora had a better view of him, he noted that Riku’s doppelganger had some noticeable facial differences. For one thing, the iris of one of his eyes was red.</p>
<p>“Riku’s twin?” Sora guessed.</p>
<p>“My name is Yozora.”</p>
<p> “Oh, cool!” Sora exclaimed. “It’s just like my name! It also means sky!”</p>
<p>“Then… that means you’re Sora.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, how do you know?”</p>
<p>“Because my mission is to find Sora.”</p>
<p>“Find me?”</p>
<p>Suddenly, their environment transformed. Instead of being surrounded by palm trees and sand, Sora found himself in what looked like an arena immersed in Darkness, not unlike the time they fought with the Organization leader, Xemnas. Yozora whipped out a Keyblade and was rushing after Sora.</p>
<p>Sora was beyond terrified. He ran as fast as he could. There was an empty determination in Yozora’s expression. He was never going to relent. “Look, can’t we talk about this?” Sora pleaded. But there was no room for negotiation with Yozora. He struck Sora so hard, that Sora stumbled backwards and fell hard onto the ground.</p>
<p>Yozora approached steadfastly. To Sora’s surprise, instead of striking him again, Yozora merely touched Sora with his Keyblade. Looking at where the Keyblade made contact with him, he saw that he was crystalizing.</p>
<p>Sora turned to Yozora in horror. “Why?” he tried to say, but at that moment, his mouth froze, and he lost all ability to move. Yozora picked up the frozen Sora and disappeared with him.</p>
<p>Throughout that entire time, Riku had been unaware of what was happening. It was not until half an hour had passed that he decided to go look for him. “How hard is it to find nets?” Riku wondered. “I hope he didn’t fall asleep. That guy will take a nap anywhere!” Riku went into Sora’s hut, but he saw no sign of him. He then went to his own and that of Kairi’s – still nothing. He became more frenetic in his search. Did Sora drown? Get buried somewhere? He alerted Kairi of Sora’s sudden absence and together they continued to search for him. He did not want to admit what he already knew: Sora was gone.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Knowing You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Riku and Kairi are searching for Sora.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been one week since Sora had been missing. Kairi and Riku had remained vigilant in their search for him, refusing to believe in the possibility that they may never see their friend again.</p>
<p>One day, Kairi was taking a stroll through the island when she suddenly came across a grove covered in shadows. Alarmed at the sight of it, she frantically got a hold of Riku and showed him the grove. Riku balked. Right before the Darkness came, Sora told him about this dream where he and Riku found a dark grove that had suddenly appeared and that had led down a mysterious, dark path to a door with no knob. Sora told Riku about this dream and asked if it had really happened. But Riku did not remember this and dismissed Sora’s account as mere fantasy. Now Riku was able to see for himself that it really did somehow exist.</p>
<p>With some trepidation, Riku and Kairi approached this mysterious grove and saw a tunnel go through it. With a harpoon in hand, Riku peered in, as he did not want to enter it, but then he suddenly heard a voice cry out his name. He recognized the voice: it was Sora’s.</p>
<p>“Sora!” Riku screamed and ran down the tunnel. “Don’t worry, I’m coming!” As Riku ran, he could not help but feel that the tunnel was continually extending outward, so that there never seemed to be an end in sight. He could not tell if this was real or a dream. At last, he came to the end, which stopped at the door with no knob. He saw light permeating from the edges of the door, and a loud pounding from the other side with Sora’s accompanied pleas to be let out. “Sora, I’m coming!” Riku shouted again. He tried to grab the door by the edges. Feeling like he could not get enough of a grip, he took his harpoon and stuck it through one of the cracks on the side, hoping to pry it open.</p>
<p>“Riku, no!” It was Kairi’s voice from behind him.</p>
<p>“But Sora’s in there!” Riku exclaimed.</p>
<p>“It’s not him, Riku! Stop!” Kairi grabbed Riku and pulled him, along with the harpoon, away from the door. At that moment, they heard a groan coming from the door and a terrifying shriek. A dark apparition appeared and then just as quickly evaporated into thin air. The shadows also vanished, and Riku and Kairi found themselves amongst familiar, scattered palm trees.</p>
<p>Riku was stunned. “What just happened?” he asked.</p>
<p>“That wasn’t Sora,” Kairi repeated emphatically.</p>
<p>“How did you know?”</p>
<p>“Because I was able to feel it.”</p>
<p>“Why didn’t <em>I</em> know?” Riku cried angrily. “He’s been my friend since we were little! I should have recognized if it was him or not!”</p>
<p>“Don’t beat yourself up for it,” Kairi said. “You just really wanted it to be him. I do too.”</p>
<p>“That’s not the point, Kairi! If I don’t recognize Sora, how I can I help him out now? We don’t even know where to start looking!”</p>
<p>“Maybe we do. Wasn’t that the Darkness?”</p>
<p>Riku’s heart sank. He continued looking where the door was before the tunnel disappeared. Something <em>was </em>on the other side, and it was calling for him, but it was not Sora. It was something that had Darkness. He tried to imagine how this was possible, as he had thrown the Master Keyblade into the final portal three years ago, thereby closing the last connection between the Realm of Darkness and the Realm of Light and destroying the Master Keyblade in the process. But there was no alternative explanation for what was happening now. Not only had the Darkness returned, it had taken Sora as hostage. Riku decided that he was going to return to the Castle at Radiant Garden to speak with Ansem on the matter.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Missing Tomes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ven and Riku are on a quest to find the missing parts of the Book of Prophecies.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Although Riku has visited the Castle at Radiant Garden many times before, he never actually saw it transform from Hollow Bastion until now. It really was quite beautiful. The castle, a glistening white, was at the very center of the town. Surrounding it were immaculate garden mazes and hedges. Around that were all kinds of shops. Further out were all these townhomes that lined up every street. Even the road was beautiful, paved with colorful cobblestones. When Riku arrived at the gate, he saw what looked like a festival going on inside. The castle guard prevented him from going in without paying a fee. “But I don’t have any money!” Riku protested. “And anyway, I’m not here for that. I need to speak with King Ansem the Wise on an important matter.” The guard scoffed at Riku’s explanation, but another guard whispered into his ear.</p>
<p>Riku had no idea what was said, but whatever it was, it caused the first guard to reconsider and he agreed to take him directly to the King. Once they passed the Courtyard Gardens, where the festival was taking place, they walked through a corridor and came upon two large double doors, which led to the Audience Chamber, a place where Ansem received all his guests. The Audience Chamber itself just looked like another long hallway, lined with massive columns to support the arched ceilings. At the very end sat Ansem on his throne, and before him was another guest that Riku immediately recognized. “Ven!” Riku called out.</p>
<p>Ventus turned around and seemed pleasantly surprised to see an old acquaintance. “Riku!” A lot had changed in the three years since they had last seen each other. Riku, who was eighteen years old when the Keyblade War ended, had become even brawnier and darker from the daily elements he was exposed to as a fisherman. His silver hair, which at one point he wore long, was now cropped shorter so that the back came down only as far as the ears, but the front was longer to frame the rest of his face. The two greeted each other warmly and briefly caught up with one another. Ventus had just finished telling Riku that he was looking for what remains of the Book of Prophecies.</p>
<p>“You don’t think that has anything to do with the Darkness returning, do you?” Riku asked earnestly.</p>
<p>“The Darkness returned?” Ventus cried, alarmed.</p>
<p>When Riku described what happened to Sora and his encounter with the dark grove, Ansem interjected. “It sounds like the Darkness is trying to get out, but it cannot do so without Kingdom Hearts.”</p>
<p>“Kingdom Hearts?” Riku turned to Ansem inquiringly.</p>
<p>“Yes. Kingdom Hearts was what allowed the Master of Masters to get resurrected from the Realm of Darkness. It also made it possible for you to share your heart with others – like when you gave a piece of your heart to Sora, Ven. With Kingdom Hearts destroyed, no one can get resurrected, no one can transfer to other vessels or the like.”</p>
<p>“So… is that good or bad?” Ventus asked.</p>
<p>“It depends on who is using Kingdom Hearts. Xehanort wanted to use it to control others and take over their bodies. You used it to revive your friends.”</p>
<p>“I don’t get what this has to do with Sora,” Riku said bluntly, feeling somewhat frustrated.</p>
<p>“Kingdom Hearts requires at least one very strong heart,” Ansem replied cautiously.</p>
<p>Riku grew alarmed. “You’re saying someone wants to use Sora’s heart to recreate Kingdom Hearts?! That could mean he’s already dead!”</p>
<p>“Riku – do you see Kingdom Hearts in the sky?” Ventus asked. “There’s nothing there yet… that means we still have time. We will find Sora.”</p>
<p>“But how?”</p>
<p>“The Book of Prophecies,” Ansem replied. “It detailed the battle that originally created Kingdom Hearts. According to the Histories of Daybreak Town, there are five tomes that make up the book – the Tome of Light, the Tome of Darkness, the Tome of the Past, the Tome of Perception, and the Tome of the Unknown. Up until now, these tomes have been considered lost – that is, until Ven told me that one of them has been recovered.”</p>
<p>“That’s the Tome of Perception,” Ventus explained to Riku. “Lea found it. Unfortunately, it just made him crazier than usual when he read it.”</p>
<p>“These tomes are indeed magical and cannot be trifled with,” Ansem advised sternly. “They ended up getting lost over time due to the Keyblade Wars that followed.”</p>
<p>“So if we gather all the tomes together, it makes up the Book of Prophecies, which will reveal to us where the original battle took place, and presumably lead us to Sora,” Riku summarized. “Do we even know where to start?”</p>
<p>“I’ve managed to find out the location of at least two of them,” Ventus offered. “One of them is right here in this castle somewhere, but I don’t have the slightest idea where to look. We’ve already torn the Rotunda inside out.”</p>
<p>“If it’s in the castle, then I think I might know where,” Riku replied.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The Tome of Darkness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Riku recalls the day he entered Darkness.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Riku remembered the day he entered the Realm of Darkness. He and Sora had been fighting with one another in the Castle of Hollow Bastion. Sora had been pleading with Riku to snap out of it, as Riku had thought that Sora was against him. When Sora defeated Riku in battle, Riku told Sora, in a fit of anger, that Sora had Kairi’s heart inside of him, and that was why Kairi could not wake up. When he saw Sora kill himself to release Kairi’s heart and the look of horror Kairi expressed when she woke from a coma to bear witness to that, Riku fled out of shame and mortification. He did not know where he was going – all he cared about was leaving the castle. After running through one corridor to another, he stumbled upon a library. He thought this seemed like a pretty good place to lay low. The library itself was very expansive, the shelves forming like a maze. In a state of curiosity, he had momentarily forgotten all about Sora and Kairi. He roamed up and down the aisles until he came to a very dark corner. It was a large white door decorated with stained glass art. The door itself had stood ajar. When he peaked in, all he saw was a void. A soft voice called out, “Riku… what have you done?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean it!” cried Riku, tears streaming down his face. “I didn’t know that Sora was going to do that! Kairi must hate me now!”</p>
<p>“It’s okay, Riku,” the voice said soothingly. “We do not hate you. Come join us.”</p>
<p>As Riku leaned forward, he saw Ansem the Seeker of Darkness, Xehanort’s heartless, emerging from the void. He grabbed Riku and pulled him in. Riku held on to the door so that the upper half of him was still on the outside, as he did not want to go into the void. That was when he heard the voices of his friends not far behind calling out his name. He could not believe his ears! It was Sora and Kairi!</p>
<p>“Surrender to me or I will consume them as well!” Ansem warned Riku.</p>
<p>Riku looked out as he saw Sora and Kairi running down the hallway. “Sora!” Riku cried. Kairi hung back as Sora continued to advance. “Sora, lock this door!”</p>
<p>Sora stopped in front of the door, looking very confused. “But you’re on the other side of it!”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, Sora,” Riku tried his best to reassure his friend. “I will find another way out. I promise.” At that moment, Riku thought it was the biggest lie he had ever told.</p>
<p>Sora, ever the trusting one even after the fight they just had, nodded to Riku, and the two of them closed the door, with Riku now being locked out of the Realm of Light for what he thought would be an eternity.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Riku and Ventus made their way to the library. The events felt like so long ago, that despite the fact Riku remembered it almost clear as day, he could not for the life of him figure out where the door was, and they got lost. Just when Riku thought that he may have imagined everything, they finally came to a niche corner of the library, obscured by a nondescript bookshelf. Riku read over the spines of some of the books. “These are studies regarding the nature of Darkness!” he exclaimed.</p>
<p>“All of them in a small corner of the library?” asked Ventus. “Hey, maybe one of the tomes is on this shelf.” They quickly scanned over the shelf and did not find anything that resembled the Tome of Perception.</p>
<p>Riku peered behind the shelf and saw that, sure enough, there was indeed a door, but it looked nothing like the door that he remembered. It was plain and brown, the wood looking weathered and splintered with age. Riku approached the door slowly and grabbed the knob. He then suddenly stopped. Noticing Riku’s hesitation, Ventus offered, “Do you want me to go in with you?”</p>
<p>Riku grinned coyly at Ventus. “Nah, I’m a big boy now. I’m… not afraid of the dark.”</p>
<p>“Come on, Riku. I know how independent you are, but you don’t always have to struggle alone.”</p>
<p>Riku nodded at Ventus. Holding his breath, he quickly pushed the door open and jumped back, almost falling into Ventus in the process. To his embarrassment, it was just a small storage room. So much for not being afraid.</p>
<p>Ventus peered in for a closer inspection. There were all kinds of cleaning supplies in there. He sifted through the supplies and gasped. In a tucked corner of the storage room was a book. It was such an odd place to put a book, considering that they were in a library. It was obviously meant to be hidden but easily retrievable if someone knew where to look. Ventus and Riku studied it and saw that it was, in fact, the Tome of Darkness. On the cover of the tome was a drawing of an eye with the word “Darkness” written above. “You know, this must have been the very place where the Darkness devastated Radiant Garden,” Ventus surmised. “If that’s the case, I wonder what kind of powers this tome has.”</p>
<p>“So… do we open it?” Riku asked.</p>
<p>“I suppose. Just be careful. Remember what I told you in regards to what happened to Lea.”</p>
<p>“Okay.” Riku took the Tome of Darkness and opened the cover. He did not see anything at first, but when he turned the next page, he suddenly blacked out.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Internal Struggle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Riku faces the Darkness inside him.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Riku came to, he saw that he was in a black void and panicked, thinking that he was once again in the Realm of Darkness. Soon after, Ansem the Seeker of Darkness appeared before him. “I knew you could not stay away,” Ansem said smugly.</p>
<p>“What is this? Am I back in the Realm of Darkness?”</p>
<p>“No… you’re inside your own heart.”</p>
<p>“So you’re saying my heart is made of Darkness? That’s ludicrous!”</p>
<p>Ansem threw his head back and laughed. “Why are you in such denial? Afraid you won’t like what you see?”</p>
<p>“Stop trying to confuse me! I know what I am, and I don’t need someone like you telling me otherwise!”</p>
<p>“Then you have forgotten.”</p>
<p>“What have I forgotten?”</p>
<p>“The dark grove.”</p>
<p>Riku and Ansem returned to Destiny Islands, where he saw himself and Sora in their younger days. Riku was fourteen years old and Sora was twelve. Riku remembered what he was like back then. He and Sora had been friends since Sora could barely walk, but that year when the Darkness came their relationship took a drastic turn. Sora still wanted to hold onto his childhood, but Riku was ready to grow up. Riku recalled Sora telling him about the dark grove, but what Riku seemed to have forgotten until now was that he had already opened the door with no knob. Riku had returned to the grove with a crowbar and pried the door open, where he saw Ansem the Seeker of Darkness for the first time. “There’s something missing in your life, isn’t there?” Ansem asked Riku.</p>
<p>Riku shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess.”</p>
<p>“Why did you open the door?”</p>
<p>“I just wanted to know what’s on the other side.”</p>
<p>“So you seek that which you do not know?”</p>
<p>“Well, maybe I was hoping for something adventurous.”</p>
<p>“Ah! Then in that case, I can help you. I have that which you desire and then some.” Ansem promised Riku that he would give him the world – all he had to do, was open his heart to Darkness. Not really knowing what this meant, Riku agreed, and shortly after Ansem entered into him. From then on, Riku was determined to get off the island. He had built a raft. He told Kairi and Sora that they can come too if they wanted, but they had to help him build the raft. Then the Darkness swept them away, ultimately leading Riku to the Castle of Hollow Bastion, where he was pulled into the Realm of Darkness.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“How can you enter into a contract with a fourteen-year-old?” Riku fumed. He was so enraged by what he witnessed in the flashback, that when he turned to Ansem, he produced a Keyblade. He looked at it, confused. Was this also part of his mind?</p>
<p>“I didn’t have to enter a contract,” Ansem retorted. “I merely awakened you to your true nature. As you see, you’ve always had the Darkness inside of you! Whether you liked it or not, you have always been mine!”</p>
<p>Riku charged at Ansem with his Keyblade. Ansem produced his own dark blade and the two clashed with their weapons. Ansem seemed particularly and strangely gleeful. “That’s right, Riku! Give in to your anger! Don’t you know that it feeds the Darkness?”</p>
<p>Riku balked. “That’s stupid! Feelings aren’t categorized according to Light or Darkness! Anger has a place in the world!”</p>
<p>“Then you do understand.”</p>
<p>“Understand what?”</p>
<p>“That Darkness also has a place in the world. Why be afraid of that?”</p>
<p>“I’m not afraid of Darkness!”</p>
<p>“Oh, no? You had shut it out. That was foolish of you. Don’t you know that Light cannot be defined without the presence of Darkness?”</p>
<p>“Even if that is true, <em>I</em> am not defined by Darkness!” Riku charged at Ansem once again and stabbed him in the chest.</p>
<p>At that moment, everything turned white, and Riku once again passed out.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When Riku came to, he found himself sprawled on the floor of the library. Ventus was kneeling beside him. “Are you okay?” he asked Riku.</p>
<p>“The Darkness…” Riku murmured, trying to get his thoughts together. “I was fighting it.”</p>
<p>“Well, that may be true, but you were also fighting me.”</p>
<p>Riku turned to him, startled. “What?! I didn’t hurt you, did I?”</p>
<p>“Relax, I can handle it,” Ventus reassured Riku. “Besides, most of the time, I just held you down. That seemed more effective in wearing you out then just letting you keep charging at me.”</p>
<p>Ventus helped Riku up. Now that he was standing, Riku notice just how winded he was feeling, like he had the greatest fight of his life. “That room,” Riku said, “that is where Xehanort formed Ansem the Seeker of Darkness.”</p>
<p>“Such a small room,” Ventus remarked.</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, that’s the thing about Darkness: it has no dimensions. Just like that time we were trying to get you from the Chamber of Darkness. We were in a void, but as soon as light came through, it became a narrow corridor. This room also looked like a void. I remember Ansem pulling me in here and telling me that if I did not come with him willingly, that he would take Kairi and Sora as well.”</p>
<p>“What was it about you that he wanted?”</p>
<p>“He wanted my heart – I think. There was no heart in him to speak of. During my time in the Realm of Darkness, I walked amongst shadows and of things that once were. As much as possible, I held onto my heart, but all the while, Ansem was consuming me. When I finally found a way out, Ansem had taken over most of my heart, and the only way I could keep him from coming out was to shield my eyes.”</p>
<p>“What a nightmare you’ve been through!”</p>
<p>“No… it’s okay. The only other option I would have had was to let Darkness consume me. I couldn’t do that. I figured, as long as I have my own willpower, I will fight to the very end.”</p>
<p>Ventus and Riku looked at the tome again and were surprised that the eye on the cover of the book glowed, as it did not do that before. Clearly, something was activated, although they did not know what it was.</p>
<p>“By the way, thanks for being there, Ven. I’m pretty sure King Ansem would have been pissed if he saw his library totally wrecked.” They laughed as they left the library and decided to return to Ansem.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The Fight Between Light and Darkness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ansem, Riku, and Ven talk about the nature of Light and Darkness.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ventus and Riku returned to Ansem in the Audience Chamber, where they presented him with the Tome of Darkness as well as all of his studies regarding Darkness. “You found my research!” he exclaimed.</p>
<p>“It was right by what used to be the portal to Darkness,” Riku explained, “and where we found the Tome of Darkness.”</p>
<p>Ansem took on a graver demeanor. “So… it <em>was</em> through my research that Xehanort released the Darkness and destroyed Radiant Garden,” he sighed.</p>
<p>“Well, what did you find out in your research?” Ventus asked.</p>
<p>“When dark portals first started popping up, they were only temporary – long enough for those heartless creatures to appear. You see, Darkness is not very stable in the Realm of Light, but Light can exist significantly longer in Darkness. Xehanort and I were trying to keep Darkness contained long enough to study its properties, and from there, we learned how destructive it truly was. Did you know that at one point our worlds were all connected? That was Daybreak Town. When Darkness descended upon the place, it was torn apart. You’ve seen the effects that Darkness has had in the Realm of Light. Look at The World That Never Was: believe it or not, it used to be part of Daybreak Town until it became a shadow of itself.”</p>
<p>“If Darkness is so unstable in Light, how can it be that destructive in our realm?” asked Riku.</p>
<p>“As you already know, we discovered that Light and Darkness coexisted within human hearts,” Ansem explained. “That was why Xehanort was so determined to use human test subjects. He had come to the understanding that if he knew how to harness the powers of Light and Darkness, then Darkness can exist in the Light. That was why Kingdom Hearts needed the hearts of people. To allow for the coexistence of Light and Darkness.”</p>
<p>“But the worlds were crumbling apart before we ended the Keyblade War! That’s not coexistence!”</p>
<p>“True,” Ansem agreed. “They are ultimately unsustainable together, I’m afraid. Darkness would have eventually overcome everything that was in the Light.”</p>
<p>“Then why does Darkness insist on invading the Realm of the Light if it’s just going to turn it into itself?”</p>
<p>“Riku, think about the very nature of Darkness. When it consumes, it only creates more Darkness. That’s what it does. Then think about Light – what is Light but a revelation of that which exists? The only problem with Light is that it does not last forever. At some point, the energy that feeds the Light eventually runs out, and Light dies. But Darkness can last forever.”</p>
<p>“So I guess in a way, Light needed Kingdom Hearts too,” Ventus suggested. “Light used Kingdom Hearts to perpetuate itself, and Darkness used it just to exist.”</p>
<p>“But it’s unnatural, Ven,” Ansem insisted. “Kingdom Hearts violates natural order, and at what cost? A human life? I had stopped my research with Darkness because it would mean a disregard to my ethics. Unfortunately, Xehanort followed through with what I refused to do. I am sorry, Ven, Riku, that my idle curiosity resulted in direct suffering to you both. You were right in destroying Kingdom Hearts when you did, Riku.” Ansem handed back the Tome of Darkness to Riku. “When you find all the tomes, wherever the Book of Prophecies takes you, whatever you do, don’t recreate Kingdom Hearts.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Fourth Wall</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lea has doubts and questions about a lot of things.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lea was in the basement working on one of his latest weapons when a really strange feeling came over him. This was nothing new: it had been more or less ongoing for a while now. It was an intense feeling of “otherness,” in which he sensed that he was separate from his environment. Although his surroundings looked the same, they nonetheless took on a more sinister quality. It was like the very fabric of time was about to be ripped to shreds. <em>Just like when you put Roxas in that computer simulator</em>.</p>
<p>“Is this real,” he asked himself, “or am I in a virtual world?” The very thought caused him to feel disoriented as panic was once again starting to set in. He grabbed the edges of the table before him, telling himself that this was, in fact, solid, and therefore must be real. Just as he was calming himself down with this assurance, he felt himself suddenly lurch forward. His environment tore apart and revealed that he was in the middle of a battlefield. On one side of him he saw a group of people wearing green uniforms. On the other side, people were wearing blue uniforms. When he looked down, he saw that he was wearing a black uniform. “Oh, give me a break!” he groaned.</p>
<p>“What are you doing? Pick up your weapon and fight!” There was a voice talking behind him. He recognized the voice but could not quite picture who this was.</p>
<p>“But I don’t even know what’s going on!” Lea protested. “Like, whose side am I supposed to be fighting for?”</p>
<p>“Does it really matter?”</p>
<p>“Well, yeah!”</p>
<p>“Whose side do you want to be on?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know! Who’s the good side?”</p>
<p>“What good side?”</p>
<p>Lea felt perplexed by this question. Was there not a side that was better than the other, a side that needed to be defended against malevolent forces?</p>
<p>His questions were only met with derisive laughter. “Don’t be delusional! Do you think anybody wakes up one day and says, ‘Hey, I want to be the bad guy’? In everyone’s mind, they are all the protagonist! Everyone thinks they are the good guy!”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lea found himself back in his basement. Why was that the last thing he had to hear before he came back to <em>this</em> version of reality? Was he ever the bad guy in someone else’s story? He thought about it. He knew he was considered a traitor to the Organization, who were considered the bad guys for Sora and Riku. There was truly a time when he thought the mission behind the Organization – to release hearts to Kingdom Hearts in hopes to obtain a heart of their own – was noble; that was, until Roxas and Xion came into the picture, when each developed an identity crisis. Was he a villain in Roxas’ story? <em>All he was trying to do </em>– or so Lea told himself – was to keep Roxas from disappearing. He kept Roxas in the dark about his connection to Sora, about his relationship to Xion, all in an effort to protect him. He never gave Roxas an opportunity to think for himself, and only now he saw how problematic that was. Not allowing Roxas to have a choice in his life was comparable to Xehanort robbing everyone else of choices in their lives. Lea could convince himself that he was a changed person, but nothing about how he felt proved otherwise. He always felt like he was running away or protecting himself from something. His heart was a constant battleground. Who, in the confidence of their own morals, would feel like they need to constantly fight with the world and themselves?</p>
<p>Exhausted from his own identity crisis, he decided to take a break from his basement dwelling and peak into the outside world. To his surprise, he found Isa, Ventus, and Riku sitting in his living room. They appeared to be talking about something really important, which had to do with the Book of Prophecies and finding Sora.</p>
<p>“Sora’s missing?” Lea blurted out.</p>
<p>Everyone looked up. It seemed to Lea that they were all judging him, like he was intruding in their business. “Yeah,” Ventus replied in an awkward tone. “We’re trying to figure out how to find him.”</p>
<p>“Where’d he go?”</p>
<p>Ventus seemed really confused. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”</p>
<p>“Maybe you should go.”</p>
<p>“You… you mean you want us to leave?”</p>
<p>“Oh. Sorry. I meant maybe <em>I</em> should go.”</p>
<p>“Where are you going?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know.” Feeling sufficiently embarrassed, Lea retreated to his room. He could not believe how he fumbled his lines so badly and wondered if he was able to redo the scene all over again, but as he was considering this, he fell asleep.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Connection to Sora</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Riku, Ven, and Isa reconvene at the Twilight Mansion to consider their next steps.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Riku and Ventus had returned to Twilight Mansion, where they were met by Isa, who had the Tome of Perception in his possession. They all sat in the living room to discuss the latest developments. Ventus tossed Isa the Tome of Darkness. “You actually found it!” Isa exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, I could not have done it without Riku here,” Ventus replied.</p>
<p>“So what’s left?” Isa asked.</p>
<p>“Ansem told us the names of the three other tomes – the Tome of Light, the Tome of the Past, and the Tome of the Unknown.”</p>
<p>“I’m going to guess that the Tome of the Unknown was the one located at Castle Oblivion,” Isa surmised.</p>
<p>“Perhaps,” Ventus agreed. “The question is how to get to it when Castle Oblivion no longer exists.”</p>
<p>“You mean to tell me that we might not even find <em>all the tomes</em>?” Riku cried.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, Riku, we’ll find a way,” Ventus promised.</p>
<p>“You better! Sora’s life is on the line! Each day he is missing increases the likelihood we’ll never find him!”</p>
<p>“Sora’s missing?” Lea suddenly came out, looking extremely bewildered and disconnected. After making a few ambiguous comments to the group, he wandered away.</p>
<p>Riku turned to Isa and Ventus, who had exchanged uncomfortable glances. “Was <em>that</em> what you were talking about?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, part of it,” Ventus reluctantly acknowledged. “You see why it’s equally urgent for us to find the other tomes. We’re not going to be lackadaisical about this. We can’t afford to be.”</p>
<p>Riku shook his head in disbelief and held his head in his hands. He seemed utterly beside himself. “Sora does not deserve any of this! If anyone does, it would be me.”</p>
<p>“Riku, you can’t possibly think you brought the Darkness to Destiny Islands? Remember, it had long since ravaged Radiant Garden before it came to you.”</p>
<p>“But I invited the Darkness into our lives. <em>I did that</em>. Sora was never a part of it. The only thing he was guilty of was wanting to save me from it.”</p>
<p>“I know how important Sora is to you, because Sora has been important in all of our lives.”</p>
<p>“Really? How?”</p>
<p>“Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten.”</p>
<p>“Forgot what?”</p>
<p>“Sora is the one person who ties us all together.” Sora was Riku’s best friend, but he also served as a temporary vessel for a piece of Ventus’ heart that allowed him to be the Keyblade Master. When Sora stabbed himself to release Kairi’s heart, in the process he also formed Ventus’ Nobody Roxas, who in turn was used to create Xion. Axel became best friends with Roxas and Xion, developed a semblance of a heart as a result, and turned back into the person Lea after Axel died to save Sora, Riku, and Saix in Castle Oblivion. Witnessing Axel’s development caused Saix to remember what it was like to be his human counterpart Isa, who later died and became a spirit in the Realm of Darkness. When Lea ended up in the Realm of Darkness, Isa guided Lea out of the realm and was later able to be resurrected to his human form, thanks to Ventus. Lea, Sora, and Riku found Ventus in the Chamber of Darkness, and Sora used his Power of Waking to bring Ventus back to life.</p>
<p>Riku smiled in appreciation. “It’s amazing that Sora does not have to do much of anything to create such a meaningful impact on all of your lives,” he said. “For that, I am glad to have met you guys. Sora wouldn’t hesitate to help anyone in need, and now that he’s the one in need, I can’t let him down.”</p>
<p>Isa picked up the Tome of Darkness and opened it. He turned to Riku. “What exactly happened after you opened the Tome of Darkness?”</p>
<p>“I blacked out and saw Ansem the Seeker of Darkness.”</p>
<p>“Well, this is all I’m seeing.” Isa turned the book around so that the pages were visible to Ventus and Riku. They were black lines scribbled furiously on the pages that took the shape of a vortex.</p>
<p>“Ansem did say that the tomes had magical abilities,” Ventus reminded them. “Maybe they only work once or with certain people under certain circumstances.”</p>
<p>“So, assuming that I represent the Tome of Darkness, who would represent the Tome of Light?” Riku asked.</p>
<p>“Well, I guess Sora would, but obviously he is not an option,” Ventus commented.</p>
<p>“Xion would,” Isa suggested. “She is from Sora.”</p>
<p>“That’s… actually not a bad idea.” Ventus went upstairs to where the home office was and grabbed Xion to join them. Ventus quickly filled her in about the situation and asked her if she was able to somehow channel Sora or the Tome of Light.</p>
<p>Xion tried to concentrate and thought really hard about it. The truth was, ever since she had separated from Sora when she came out of the VR program, she lost all her telepathic connections to him. “I’m sorry, Riku,” she sighed. She really wanted to be helpful.</p>
<p>Riku tried his best to hide his frustrations. He knew it was not Xion’s fault that she could not remember Sora. As he gazed at her, he realized she reminded him of someone. “Kairi!” he exclaimed. “It has to be Kairi!”</p>
<p>“What makes you think that?” Ventus asked.</p>
<p>“Kairi’s <em>all</em> Light!” Riku exclaimed. “There’s no Darkness in her at all!”</p>
<p>“All right, find out what you can from Kairi. We’ll figure out how to obtain the other tomes.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Immortality, or Human’s Purpose</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Isa, Ven, and Xion find themselves talking about immortality.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Isa, Ventus, and Xion remained in the living room for a while after Riku had left. This was really the first time Isa had a chance to actually talk to Xion. “Something tells me that you’re going to live forever, Xion,” he teased. “What will you do with all that time on your hands?”</p>
<p>“Live forever?” she repeated with some mild consternation. From Xion’s perspective, she had only existed for the past four years. Forever was never really a concept she had given much thought about. “Where would you be?”</p>
<p>“What do you mean? We’d be dust.”</p>
<p>“You’ll turn into dusk?!” She thought about the time Xemnas used this as a threat to Nobodies as a means to discipline potential waywardness.</p>
<p>“No, not dusk, Xion – <em>dust</em>. As in ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.’ We’ll be long gone.”</p>
<p>Xion shook her head. “But I don’t want to be here if you guys aren’t here too.”</p>
<p>“Well, that’s not really your choice.”</p>
<p>“Then whose choice is it?”</p>
<p>“No one’s, I guess.”</p>
<p>“What are you guys talking about?” Lea muttered, reemerging after waking from his nap. It appeared he had taken the habit of skulking around and showing up when least expected.</p>
<p>“That your future has already been made,” Isa declared, decidedly ignoring Lea’s foul mood. “Xion will take care of you in your old age, and then when you die, she’ll just take care of all your possessions.”</p>
<p>“That’s not fair to impose on Xion,” Ventus joked. “Maybe she doesn’t <em>want</em> to take care of him in his old age.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think I want to live forever,” Xion commented. “What’s the point in that?”</p>
<p>“Stop telling her things you know nothing about,” Lea snapped. “Nothing lasts forever.”</p>
<p>“That may be true, but chances are she will outlive all of us,” Ventus commented. “With a body of a mannequin, it’s not like she has organs that could fail on her.”</p>
<p>“You mean, no heart or anything?” Isa turned perplexingly to Xion. “How are you even alive?”</p>
<p>Xion blushed. She hated when people talked about her, as it always seemed inevitable that she would have to explain – or worse, justify – her existence. She looked down at her hands, which she held together on her lap. They felt and looked real to her, but then again, she had always felt this way. Yet she had been told time and time again that she was just an illusion. This concept was one that escaped all logic; where exactly did her thoughts or feelings come from, if they are not from a mind or a heart? Xion pressed her hand against her chest. As she expected, there was no heartbeat. “I don’t know,” she finally answered. Troubled, she quickly excused herself and left their presence.</p>
<p>As soon as Lea made sure Xion was out of earshot, he returned his attention to Isa. “Can’t you keep your mouth shut?” he grumbled.</p>
<p>“Hey! How was I supposed to know she’d get upset about that?”</p>
<p>“If you didn’t know, then you have forgotten what life was like in the Organization.” It was true that during their time as Nobodies, Xion was treated especially horrible because she had never been a person to begin with. Xion’s life started out as a puppet, an instrument meant for destruction. With help from Saix, Xemnas was able to create Xion using an empty husk and a piece of Sora’s memories that came from Roxas. Her purpose was to replace Roxas in the event that he did not live up to the Organization’s expectations as Sora’s equal with the Keyblade. However, as she forged a friendship with Axel and Roxas, she started developing her own memories, thoughts, and feelings. It led to an identity crisis right before her demise. The fact that Lea was able to bring Xion back through a mannequin was nothing short of a miracle, and for the most part Lea never tried to understand how or why she was able to exist this way. After all, humans did not come with a manual either. As far as he was concerned, Xion’s quest to understand her own existence was no different than anyone else’s.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Buried Memories</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Xion and Lea talk about memories. Later, Lea has some suspicions.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Later on that day, when Xion was feeling better, she came out and asked if she and Lea could go to the beach. Given that she rarely made requests like this, Lea agreed without much fuss, although he was tired despite the nap from earlier. He was dwelling on a dream he had where he was overcome by waves of Darkness. It seemed no matter what state of consciousness he was in, there was never a moment of respite.</p>
<p>Xion and Lea went to the very spot where they came to almost exactly three years ago based on a promise that he made to them two years prior. Lea recalled that promise and asked Xion if he had recently made another promise that they were going to the beach again?</p>
<p>“No…” she said thoughtfully. They were sitting on their favorite bowed-down palm tree and watching the waters as the sun departed its colors into the ripples before saying good-bye for the night. She picked up a conch shell and marveled at it. “Listen, I know how you feel: not knowing if you can rely on your memories, or what’s real. But the heart knows more than what your mind can ever tell you.” She placed the conch shell in his hand. “Do you know how Ven remembered Roxas? He listened to his heart. The memories there, while they may be buried, can never be altered. This shell reminded him of that.”</p>
<p>Lea held the conch shell to his ear. When he listened long enough, he felt as if he was transported back to the time when he, Roxas, and Xion were sitting at the Clock Tower and talking about memories that seemed far off. It was the first time Xion ever recounted a memory. There was an expression of pure delight in Roxas’ face when he listened to the sounds coming from the conch shell, and he was all too eager to share it with Axel. It inspired Axel to come up with plans for them to do, just for the fun of it. Nobodies had never done anything just for fun before. It was the moment that Axel felt alive for the first time.</p>
<p>Lea smiled at the memory and turned to Xion. “If you know that much <em>without</em> a heart, I don’t think you really need one.”</p>
<p>“But I <em>do</em> have a heart,” Xion insisted. “It lies within <em>your</em> memories.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That night, Lea found himself lying in bed and unable to sleep. He was thinking too much, as always. He had especially given a lot of thought to what Xion had said. The memories that he had treasured most were so overwhelmed by other things in his mind that he could not focus on them even if he wanted to. He grabbed the conch shell that was sitting by the night dresser and held it to his ear. Instead of remembering that time at the Clock Tower, however, a new memory rushed into his head so that he felt like he was reliving it.</p>
<p>He saw a boy inside a dark study, or perhaps it was a lab. He was wearing his black coat with the hood over his head. Across from him was another member with a black coat, also with the hood on.</p>
<p>“Did you finish it?” the other hooded member ask him. This other hooded member seemed considerably older than the boy. Lea understood him to have a mentorship role with the boy.</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s done,” the boy replied.</p>
<p>“Good work! And now… your reward.” The mentor held out his hand and materialized a dark Keyblade. In the middle of the Keyblade’s handle was a blue, gazing eye.</p>
<p>“Please tell me that’s not <em>your</em> eye,” the boy asked miserably.</p>
<p>“Why <em>yes it is</em>!”</p>
<p>The boy groaned in disgust.</p>
<p>“Oh what, <em>now</em> your squeamish?” his mentor laughed. “Would you feel better if I told you that it has magical abilities?”</p>
<p>“You mean that thing can see?!” he replied in horror.</p>
<p>“Hey, don’t call it a thing! That’s my eye you’re talking about! And yes, it can, in fact, see. You will know that you have succeeded in your duties when you have passed it on to your apprentice, and him to his apprentice, and so on – just like I am doing for you. Take care of it and the Book of Prophecies as they rely on one another to ensure the fate of Kingdom Hearts.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lea found himself suddenly waking up. It was morning, not that he felt like he had slept at all. Was that a memory or a dream? He had a terrible feeling he knew what it meant, but he was not sure. One thing he felt certain about, however, was that the mentor was clearly Braig. Confirming in his own mind his suspicions about Braig, he decided to confront him.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Paopu Fruit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Riku and Kairi reminisce about their childhood and Sora.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Riku returned to Destiny Islands, he told Kairi everything that had happened to him and their need to find the Tome of Light to complete the Book of Prophecies. Kairi appeared very confused. “What makes you think I would know anything about a Tome of Light?” she asked.</p>
<p>“It just sounds like to me all these tomes are placed in strategic locations,” Riku explained. “I mean, how <em>else</em> would I have known where the Tome of Darkness was? And then when I opened it in front of Ventus, he was not affected by it at all, but I was! That was because the Power of Darkness was within me at one point, remember? But you – you’re all Light! If it’s anybody, it has to be you!”</p>
<p>“Riku, I’m sorry. I wish I know what to tell you, but I don’t know of any books, at least not in the island.”</p>
<p>Riku exhaled in frustration. He felt like he was going to cry. They were now almost two weeks in with no sign of Sora, and already he was starting to forget things about him, like the sound of his voice. It continued to bother him that he did not even recognize when something was pretending to be Sora. “Kairi… do you remember that dark grove? I mean, the one where I thought Sora was trapped?”</p>
<p>“Yeah…”</p>
<p>“How did <em>you</em> know that that wasn’t Sora?”</p>
<p>“I told you. I felt it in my heart.”</p>
<p>“Okay, but why is it that you were able to feel it, and I wasn’t?” When Riku noticed Kairi blushing, he could not help but suspect that Kairi was keeping something from him.</p>
<p>“It’s not that,” Kairi insisted. “I just think you’re going to find what I have to say silly.”</p>
<p>“Really, Kairi?”</p>
<p>“Okay, do you know about the legend of the Paopu fruit?”</p>
<p>“Yeah…”</p>
<p>“When Sora and I were twelve, we were talking about it, that if two people were to share one, their destinies become intertwined. They’ll remain a part of each other’s lives no matter what. So Sora and I shared one, and ever since then, I believe that is why I can feel Sora.”</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Riku asked more earnestly than how he wanted it to sound.</p>
<p>“Come on, Riku. Don’t you remember? You would have called us childish if we told you that.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Right.” It seemed to Riku that he had conveniently forgotten that during that time period, he was still struggling to come to terms with his nascent adolescence. Destiny Islands consisted of a very small community, and Riku was one of the oldest children there and the biggest. As he felt his own childhood come to an abrupt end, he was resentful that Sora still seemed to be enjoying his. He suddenly became sheepish in front of Kairi. “Can… can <em>we</em> share a Paopu fruit?” he asked as he felt his cheeks grow hot.</p>
<p>Kairi blushed. “Oh. Sure.” The Paopu fruit was a star-shaped fruit that was native to Destiny Islands. Kairi plucked one out from one of the trees and split it in half to share with Riku. She covered her mouth with her hand while eating it to suppress a giggle that was about to erupt from watching Riku’s face as he ate his portion. She had never seen him look so uncomfortable before. “Riku… do you believe, or are you just pretending?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. I don’t feel any different. Am I supposed to feel different?”</p>
<p>“I don’t think so.”</p>
<p>“So,” Riku said after he finished choking the rest of his fruit down, “did you guys do a lot of things without me?”</p>
<p>“I hope you’re not asking because you feel left out. Sora had always looked up to you.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, <em>I</em> wouldn’t look up to me, if I were him. I acted like such a jerk back then.”</p>
<p>“Sora and I used to play house inside the cave,” she stated matter-of-factly.</p>
<p>“What?!” Riku busted out laughing. “At <em>twelve</em>? You guys were too old for that!”</p>
<p>“A-ha!” Kairi shot back. “I knew you were going to make fun of us! You haven’t changed one bit! You’re still the same old Riku!”</p>
<p>Riku grew hot again. “Okay, okay! Maybe I am a <em>little</em> judgmental… still. But there’s a limit, you know! I can only take so much!”</p>
<p>“Do you want to see it?”</p>
<p>“Your make-believe house? You mean it’s been preserved all this time? Sure, why not?”</p>
<p>Riku and Kairi took a flashlight with them and went over to the cave, which was tucked away between the surrounding huts. Sora and Riku used to play in it all the time when they were much younger. They had pretended that they were in all kinds of different worlds. The cave itself was not very capacious. It was more like a little hollow cut out from rock. On the walls of the cave were a lot of chalk sketches drawn from children over the years. Kairi pointed to one of the drawings, which was that of Sora and Kairi sharing a Paopu fruit. Riku felt his heart swell at the sight of it. Although it was quite rudimentary, it was still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He turned to Kairi. “Did you guys bring furniture here?”</p>
<p>“No,” she replied dreamily. It appeared that she was also lost in some of the drawings. “We just drew them.” She pointed to another corner of the cave, where he saw faded images of what looked like chairs.</p>
<p>Riku turned around and was about to walk forward when he felt like he kicked something. He looked down. His heart leaped for joy when he saw that it was a book. He did not need to examine it to know what it was. “The Tome of Light!” he exclaimed.</p>
<p>“What?” Kairi replied in a puzzled tone. She pointed her flashlight at the book, which he was now holding. “That was never here before.”</p>
<p>“It came by magic!” he responded wryly. Side-by-side, they sat down on the ground and held hands as they prepared to open it to see what awaited them. “When we find Sora,” he said, turning to Kairi, “remind me to rip on him for playing house with you.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. The Tome of Light</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Riku finds himself in the middle of a battlefield and has an interesting encounter.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a bright, blinding flash. Riku sort of expected this, given how he was introduced to the Tome of Darkness. However, once his vision returned, he was surprised to witness a chaotic scene as he was now in the middle of a battlefield. He saw a lot of bodies on the ground and people engaged in close combat. There was dust everywhere, and all he could hear were the agonizing screams of those dying. “How is this Light?!” thought Riku in bewilderment as he frantically looked all over the place in search of Kairi.</p>
<p>Riku ran off the battlefield and tried to have better view of it in case Kairi was in the midst of it, but he could not find her. “What do I do here?” he wondered. He was not sure if this was a supposed to be a memory or a dream. No – this was a nightmare. He wished that Kairi was with him so that he could at least be reassured that he was not going crazy. Feeling hopeless and lost, he decided that it was better to just keep running until he returns to the present time, if that was how the tomes worked. He eventually arrived at a clearing. He was far enough from the battlefield, that he no longer heard the cries of others. At that point, he had stopped running and decided to rest there. Not long after, he heard the rustling of footsteps. He shot back up and took a defensive stance. A part of him hoped that it was actually Kairi. Imagine his astonishment when he came face-to-face with another man that shared his reflection! The man stopped several feet away from Riku. The two studied one another. “Who are you?” Riku asked when he recovered from his shock. “Are you me?”</p>
<p>The man sneered. “If I were you, I would not have run. Why were you running, anyway?”</p>
<p>Riku felt a put off by the condescension. “I don’t even know what’s going on there.”</p>
<p>“It’s a battle. You’re a warrior.”</p>
<p>“So? It wasn’t my fight!”</p>
<p>“Yes it was. It’s a fight you know all too well.”</p>
<p>“What? Between Light and Darkness?”</p>
<p>“Between life and death.”</p>
<p>Riku started. He felt uncomfortable with this conversation. He found it revolting and yet alluring at the same time. It was as if his innermost thoughts were being drawn out of him, and he was hearing them aloud for the very first time. “I struggle with it daily,” he breathed. “I struggle to understand how we didn’t die the day the waves overtook us, how Sora survived suicide, how I was able to return to the Realm of Light from Darkness. None of that feels real.”</p>
<p>“It’s because of Kingdom Hearts. It allowed the barrier between the two realms to be permeable. But you destroyed Kingdom Hearts and closed the portal.”</p>
<p>“I had to! If I didn’t, Darkness was going to overtake the Light!”</p>
<p>“And it behooved you to make that decision?”</p>
<p>“<em>Who</em> decided to create Kingdom Hearts? It should have never happened!”</p>
<p>“So you’re willing to put your life on the line to say that?”</p>
<p>Riku was getting increasingly annoyed. He was tired of being put on the defense. He could just as easily turn the tables around, but he saw no point to it. This was a losing argument on both sides. “Who are you anyway?” he screamed. “What’s your name? Why do you look like me?”</p>
<p>“My name is Yozora. I look like you because yours was the last image I saw before you closed the portal to the Realm of Darkness. I do not remember what I look like.”</p>
<p>“Yozora?” Riku cried incredulously. “I don’t suppose you have anything to do with Sora’s disappearance?”</p>
<p>Yozora sneered again. “Sora and I are two halves of the same whole.”</p>
<p>“No! You’re nothing like Sora!” Riku felt the rage grow inside him, which once again produced his Keyblade. This evidently pleased Yozora, who produced his own and began to quickly advance. Remembering his fight with Ventus when he opened the Tome of Darkness, he backed away from Yozora. “No! You’re not real, but Kairi is! I can’t do this!”</p>
<p>“Then prepare to die!” Yozora snarled as he whipped his Keyblade and struck Riku so hard, that he lost consciousness.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When Riku came to, Kairi was leaning over him. “Riku! Riku, can you hear me?” she asked in consternation.</p>
<p>“Yeah. Why are you asking me that?” He felt like he was still in a daze.</p>
<p>“You seized as soon as we opened the book!”</p>
<p>“What?! How long was I out?”</p>
<p>“Maybe about two minutes. I closed the book immediately after.” Riku sat up and reached for the tome, but Kairi snatched it away from him. “No! Don’t do that again!”</p>
<p>“But I was about to get an answer on where Sora is!” he insisted.</p>
<p>“I don’t think so. What kind of answer do you think you were going to get? Look, this book clearly has supernatural properties. That ought to tell you that the only way to get to Sora is by supernatural means.”</p>
<p>“So we find out whoever has that ability to take us to him.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Confrontation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lea and Isa duke it out.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Isa was having his breakfast when he looked out from his window and saw, to his horror, Lea coming down the street strapped with an assault rifle, appearing particularly agitated. “Oh no,” he groaned and ran out to hopefully intercept him.</p>
<p>Lea was headed towards the castle gates and was still at a considerable distance when he sensed someone was behind him. He spun around and found himself pointing the rifle at Isa, who was completely beside himself with a strange mixture of anger and terror. “Are you out of your mind?” Isa seethed.</p>
<p>“Then don’t sneak up on me like that!” Lea snapped.</p>
<p>“I’m not sneaking up on you – I’m trying to stop you, you idiot! You can’t go into the castle like that! They’ll shoot you on the spot!”</p>
<p>“You think that scares me?” Lea laughed derisively. “I just want to talk to Braig. I’m going to <em>make</em> him tell me what he knows!”</p>
<p>“About what?” Isa cried.</p>
<p>“While I was listening to a conch shell, I just remembered something about him. He’s connected to the Book of Prophecies somehow. I’m going to make him tell me how, and why he was wearing the black coats from the Organization, and what’s with that gazing eye on his Keyblade, and what does it have to do with the fate of Kingdom Hearts!”</p>
<p>“What?!” Isa tried to pull Lea back, but he shoved Isa away and tried to run. Isa grabbed the rifle and they struggled with it for several minutes. Lea punched Isa in the face and smacked him with the side of the rifle, causing Isa to fall down. He tried to stomp on Isa, but Isa grabbed the leg that Lea was standing on and pulled it from under him so that he lost his balance, and he too stumbled to the ground. Just as Lea was about to get up, Isa reached for the nearest rock and struck Lea on the head as hard as he could with it, knocking him out. “That’s it!” Isa fumed. “I’ve had it with your insanity! Maybe we ought to erase <em>all</em> your memories! Then you can sit on your roof all day, eating your dumb ice-cream, just like you always wanted!”</p>
<p>As Isa was dragging Lea back to his residence, he was not aware that Xion had witnessed the entire altercation from several feet away. She had followed Lea when she saw him leave Twilight Mansion in that disturbed state but became terrified when she saw the two wrestle with the gun and hung back. Braig, who was standing right outside the gate, also saw the whole thing. To Xion’s surprise, he was beckoning to her. With some misgivings, she came up to him to see what he wanted. When she was close enough, he whispered, “I have something important to tell you about your friend there.”</p>
<p>“What is it?” she whispered back.</p>
<p>“Not here. It’s actually rather personal.” He turned to one of the other guards and motioned for his partner to cover for him. His partner nodded, and Braig ushered Xion into the castle. Although Xion had a very foreboding sense about this, she pressed on, thinking that whatever Braig was going to tell her was going to help Lea. She did not really have that much time to think about it anyway, as Braig was escorting her with one hand on her shoulder, moving very quickly and practically pushing her, so that by the time he brought her to the guards’ chambers, it was not until she found them alone that she considered this a bad idea. Braig studied her intensely. “You… haven’t aged one bit,” he said. “You still look like a little girl.”</p>
<p>Xion gasped. “You remember?”</p>
<p>“Well, it’s kind of hard not to when you spend the last moments of your life as a Nobody being squashed like a bug.”</p>
<p>Xion felt herself sink in terror. “I don’t understand. How did you come back?”</p>
<p>“Kingdom Hearts brought me back – or rather, the destruction of it. With my heart having nowhere else to go, it returned to my body and made me a person once more. But see, that is where my journey will end unless I do something about it, for I’m mortal again. Do you know what that means, Xion?”</p>
<p>Xion thought about it. They had just talked about this the other day. The concept of living forever sounded rather daunting and tedious. She still felt like she had a lot of experience to gain, but they become much more precious when they are finite.</p>
<p>“It means that I cannot transfer to other bodies anymore, Xion. That’s what it means.”</p>
<p>“You mean, like Xehanort?”</p>
<p>Braig chuckled. “Xehanort’s problem was he didn’t know when to quit. His hunger for power was his hubris. Too much of a good thing, maybe.”</p>
<p>“So… you remembered this entire time?”</p>
<p>“Actually, no. I was reawakened when one of the tomes from the Book of Prophecies was opened. At first, I couldn’t understand what was happening, but then I saw you and Axel – or I guess he goes by Lea now. I saw you at the festival, looking just the same as the day I saw you when I returned as a Nobody. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise me, being that you’re just a puppet and all.”</p>
<p>Xion’s eyes flashed with anger. She was so tired of hearing that word. Even as a Nobody, Xigbar seemed awfully keen to use it as an insult. “No, I’m not! I exist all on my own now!”</p>
<p>“Do you, though?” Braig asked skeptically. “Have you forgotten what a puppet is? They don’t exist independently. They need to feed off of others. In your case, it’s of other people’s memories. But whose? Ventus? It took him a while before he could remember you – power of suggestion, am I right? What about Lea? Is he even reliable? What if you’re just a figment of his imagination? No, Xion, I don’t think you exist at all – you have been, and always will be, an <em>illusion</em>!”</p>
<p>Xion found herself getting angrier and angrier. She had never hated someone so much before, and she did nothing to him to make him treat her that way. As the anger started to grow, she felt a gut-wrenching sensation that made her want to scream. Reflexively, she held out her arm and produced the Keyblade. “What?” She turned to it, perplexed. She did not know that even without Kingdom Hearts, she was able to produce a Keyblade, as it had always been encoded into her.</p>
<p>This was the moment Braig had been waiting for. Before she could fully process what was happening, he took the Keyblade from her and drove it into her chest. Her eyes bulged out as she looked at him in complete shock. His face had taken on a more serious, intent expression. After holding it in for a few seconds, he wrenched the Keyblade out to reveal a huge gash on her chest. She looked down. She did not know what she anticipated – it was not blood, since she did not have a heart to speak of. Braig reached into the gash and pulled something out. It was a book. It was the last thing she saw before the light in her eyes faded completely. Braig examined the book carefully. Yes, it was as he thought: the Tome of the Past.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. The Tome of the Past</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Isa has a surprise in store for him.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Isa returned home, he propped Lea against the staircase and tethered him to a railing by tying his wrists behind him with twine. Isa decided that after work, he was going to find Ventus to figure out how to best handle the situation, as this was not something he was able to deal with right that minute.</p>
<p>When Isa arrived to the castle, he noticed that Braig was no longer by the gates. Isa figured that Braig must have seen Lea coming from a distance and requested a different post. As he was walking towards his office, he found himself constantly looking for Braig with a growing sense of urgency. He had seen Braig everyday somewhere in the castle, typically by the gates or in the courtyard. He did not know why he was getting nervous – he just knew he would feel better if he could see Braig.</p>
<p>As he finally arrived to the Ministry of Finance and made it to his office, he thought about what a long day this was going to be and how he would rather be anywhere but at work right now. He took his key out to unlock his door but then paused. The door was already unlocked and stood slightly ajar. This alarmed him, as he had always been fastidious when it came to his own things, and locking his office door was one of those things. With trepidation, he pushed his door wide open and stood by the threshold. He looked around to see if there was anything out of place or missing – or quite frankly, if Braig was standing there ready to pounce.</p>
<p>Seeing that nothing was amiss, he sighed and tossed his briefcase onto the couch, <em>which landed right on top of what looked like a body draped in a white blanket. </em>He nearly jumped across the room when he saw it. He inspected it from a distance and saw that it was, indeed, a wrapped up blanket. For a moment he wondered if Lea somehow escaped, killed Braig, and then put his body on the couch just before Isa came to the office. He dismissed the idea immediately, as not only was it really outside the realm of possibility, but it was too small to be Braig. Feeling foolish for acting so scared in his own office, he decided with a firm resolve that he was going to get to the bottom of this and see what was under that blanket, if anything. He came up to it, and with sheer reluctance, turned over one of the corners, which revealed a face. His heart sank when he saw that it was Xion. Her eyes were closed and there was no evidence of life in her. He pulled the blanket further down and saw the source of her demise.</p>
<p>Frantic, he got on the phone and called Ventus. So much for doing any work. “Ven, get over here this instant!” he urged. “Never mind what for! I’ll tell you all about it when you’re here!”</p>
<p>For what seemed to be the longest hour of his life, Isa paced the entire length of his office. He was getting more and more restless as he was coming up with all kinds of scenarios that could have taken place. Who would have done something like this to Xion? Why did they put her in his office? They very much wanted her to be found. Perhaps they were trying to frame him.</p>
<p>When Ventus arrived, he was quite alarmed at Isa’s shaken appearance. “Lock the door behind you!” Isa rasped.</p>
<p>Ventus nodded and silently locked the door. “What’s this about?” he asked.</p>
<p>“That!” He pointed agitatedly at Xion’s body on his couch, which was still wrapped except the upper half.</p>
<p>“Xion!” Ventus gasped. He rushed over and quickly unwrapped the rest of her. “What is this?” Clasped in her hand was the Tome of the Past with a note that read, “Open me.”</p>
<p>“Is this some sort of sick joke?!” Isa exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Whoever did this knows we were searching for it,” Ventus replied solemnly, examining the gash in her chest.</p>
<p>“Look, I was going to tell you this later, but Lea was heading over here with an assault rifle.” Ventus’ mouth fell open, and he looked like he was about to say something, but Isa continued. “Relax, I knocked him out. He’s literally tied up in my place as we speak. But then I came over here, and I find this!”</p>
<p>“You think he knows she’s here?”</p>
<p>“If he did, he didn’t mention it. He was just raving about Braig the entire time. You don’t think… you don’t think Lea did this?”</p>
<p>Ventus paused for a second but quickly shook his head. “No. Even at his worst, Lea would probably blow up the entire world <em>but</em> Xion.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Well, that’s great. I feel so much better now.”</p>
<p>“Why’s that?”</p>
<p>“Because once he finds out about Xion, he will kill me.”</p>
<p>“Why? You didn’t do anything.”</p>
<p>“No, but someone’s trying to implicate me! She’s in my office!”</p>
<p>“So, don’t tell him that part! Just say that you found her somewhere.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, right! He will somehow blame me for this, I just know it! I mean he <em>hated</em> me for years just because I told him you and I weren’t friends. No offense.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Uh, none taken… I guess.” Ventus gingerly removed the book from Xion’s hand and gave it to Isa. “This was obviously meant for you. For now, don’t tell him anything about Xion unless you absolutely have to.”</p>
<p>“So, <em>I</em> need to open this?”</p>
<p>“I’m afraid so.” Ventus rewrapped Xion in the same blanket, and then Isa gave him another blanket so that her outline would not look so obvious. “I’m taking her back home. I’ll put her in her room. If you want, I can be the one that tells Lea when the time comes. I don’t think he’ll react that way to me.”</p>
<p>“Oh. That’s awfully generous of you, but you really don’t have to.”</p>
<p>“I’m not doing this for you. I don’t want him to cut off what little support he has.”</p>
<p>After Ventus left, Isa dropped by his supervisor’s office to tell him that he really, really was not feeling well and needed to go home. Luckily, his supervisor did not need that much convincing, given how pale and drawn out Isa appeared. “Oh, of course!” his supervisor exclaimed in the most sympathetic tone. “You look like you’ve seen death!”</p>
<p>“Tell me about it,” Isa muttered.</p>
<p>Isa headed back home in a haste. He needed time to collect himself before opening the tome and to make sure Lea had not somehow escaped. There were a lot of things pressing on his mind. The more he thought about, the more likely it sounded that Braig was, in fact, the one behind recovering the Tome of the Past. As a castle guard, he had easy access to all the offices in the castle. When he was Xigbar, he had always worked behind the scenes for the Organization. Isa himself had never clashed with Xigbar, although he had known Xigbar to be spiteful when he had it out for someone. Xigbar never liked Xion, always pointing out that she was just a puppet. Xigbar was the one that turned Axel in as a traitor to the Organization. He was not sure if current Braig had any memories of Xigbar, but if he did, it was likely that Braig was, once again, working behind the scenes.</p>
<p>When he returned home, he saw that Lea was still there. He had not moved since Isa had left that morning. Isa felt the side of Lea’s neck to make sure that there was a pulse. He sighed in relief. He did not think he could handle more than one death in a single morning. Exhausted from the wave of emotional turbulence he had experienced so far, Isa flopped onto his armchair. He figured he might as well not waste any more time. He pulled the tome out of his briefcase and opened it.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Retread Reimagined</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Isa and Lea find themselves in familiar territory.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Isa woke up to find himself in bed. It was his room, only… it was not his room anymore. This was not Radiant Garden. He was in The Castle That Never Was, back in the Organization. When he looked around, it was all white with a singular bed. It could have been anyone’s room, really, with the exception of the fact that there was a number VII engraved on the headboard. Cursing at himself, he ran to the mirror to confirm what he already knew. His heart sank when he saw the giant X running across his face. Yes, he was a Nobody, alright. His name was Saix.</p>
<p>As he was trying to keep himself together, he left the room and sought some orientation. He made his way to the next room over, number VIII, which belonged to Axel. When he saw that Axel was asleep, he shook him up. “Axel!” he whispered. </p>
<p>“What?” Axel said, groggily sitting up. “Also, why did you call me Axel?”</p>
<p>“Ha! So you do remember!”</p>
<p>Axel looked around as his situation slowly dawned on him. He groaned in disgust. “Oh, of all the– what did you do?”</p>
<p>“Me? What makes you think I did… oh.”</p>
<p>“What, oh?”</p>
<p>“I just remember now. I opened up the Tome of the Past and a bright light shined forth and blinded me.”</p>
<p>“You mean from the Book of Prophecies? Good going.”</p>
<p>“No, this <em>is</em> good! Don’t you see? That means we <em>can</em> find the tome from Castle Oblivion!”</p>
<p>Axel continued to seem perturbed. “So, what does this mean, then? Did we travel back in time?”</p>
<p>“Who knows? It <em>is</em> called the Book of Prophecies for a reason. Maybe the past five years was us seeing into the future, and this is really the present.”</p>
<p>“Or… maybe this is just a dream.”</p>
<p>“But then whose dream is it, then? We can’t <em>both</em> be dreaming!”</p>
<p>“Oh, well in that case it’s yours,” Axel replied wryly. “I have no reason to dream of you.”</p>
<p>Saix grabbed Axel’s pillow and smacked him with it. “In the meantime,” Saix continued, “we need to act like ourselves as Nobodies. We can’t let anyone know that we’re wise to anything. It might screw with the timeline… I think… maybe… You know, what? I’m not exactly sure.”</p>
<p>Axel held out his hands and saw that he can produce fire again. “I guess it’s not all bad,” he grinned. “You think Roxas is here?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know! And anyway, this is not the time to be goofing off. Just focus on the task at hand. <em>You’re</em> going to Castle Oblivion to find that tome.”</p>
<p>Axel scowled. “So what are you going to do?”</p>
<p>“Reconnaissance. I’m going to find out where we are in the timeline.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>While Axel left for Castle Oblivion, Saix went over to the employee lounge. He grunted in disgust, as he had forgotten how lackluster the place really was. There were only two long couches that sat perpendicular one another and a singular long table. The lounge was just another place Nobodies can congregate without having to go to the chamber of meeting all the time. It had the illusion of comfort, but in reality, the couches were rock solid and the room was very cold. Demyx was there tuning his sitar as always. Zexion was also there, reading his Lexicon, which he would always reference to cast magic spells. A dark portal appeared and Larxene stepped out of it. She looked over at Demyx. “Don’t you want to see the new toy?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Nah, I’m busy,” Demyx replied.</p>
<p>“With what?” she scoffed.</p>
<p>Demyx sneered at her. “With anything that doesn’t get me whooped by the Keyblade Master.”</p>
<p>Larxene threw her head back and let out an ugly cackle. “It doesn’t take much to get you whooped by anything!” she jeered. She turned to Zexion. “What about you?”</p>
<p>“Sorry, but no,” Zexion replied coolly. “I detected activity somewhere else in the castle of someone who is more powerful. It’s him that I will go after.”</p>
<p>“You mean Riku?” Saix interjected. Everyone looked up, appearing a little puzzled or intrigued.</p>
<p>“Yeah…” Zexion said. “The <em>other</em> hero, but… how do you know his name?”</p>
<p>Saix felt himself grow hot. “Oh, it was nothing,” he fumbled. “I… uh… heard his name from somewhere, that’s all.”  So, this was when Sora was first led into Castle Oblivion. The Organization had been secretly following Sora throughout his adventures for the past two years while he was destroying the heartless and going after Riku. They had never bothered him for the most part, because he had always done what they had wanted him to do – release the captured hearts to Kingdom Hearts. It was not until Sora had locked the door to the dark portal in Hollow Bastion did they realize the kind of threat Sora really was to their mission.</p>
<p>Saix hastily excused himself from their presence and cursed himself for looking so foolish. Apart from giving orders, he rarely interacted much with the “underlings” of the Organization other than Axel. He was very concerned by the fact that he had only been back at the Organization for less than an hour, and already he was breaking character.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Namine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Axel finds Namine in Castle Oblivion.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Axel moodily sauntered his way up and down the halls of Castle Oblivion. Although no one knew how the place came to be, their leader of the Organization, Xemnas, turned it into the main hub of their operations. This was where Nobodies were born. It was where all kinds of magical things could occur, thanks to the powers of dark energy that radiated the castle. It also housed the main portal that connected the Realm of Darkness with the Realm of Light. Axel did not mind coming to Castle Oblivion if he knew where he was going. A long time ago, he had created a map of its structure to figure out how to go from one point to another. It was at that time that he also learned that it was impossible to uncover every corner of the building, as it would sometimes change on him without a moment’s notice. This fact alone made his task of finding the tome particularly dreary.</p>
<p>All of a sudden, he heard a scream. “Odd. I don’t remember this,” Axel thought to himself. Given the extraordinary circumstances and the nature of his current mission, he decided to investigate. Axel ran to the direction of where the scream was coming from and saw Vexen trying to drag a small female with him into another room. Axel produced his chakrams and flung one of them at Vexen. As it hit him, Vexen ended up releasing the girl from his clutches, who then ran off. Vexen turned around, extremely irked that his apparent victim escaped.</p>
<p>“What were you doing with that girl?” Axel asked.</p>
<p>“What business is it to you?” Vexen replied angrily.</p>
<p>“I’m making it my business. I was sent here on an important assignment.”</p>
<p>Flabbergasted, all Vexen could do was sputter with rage. “You! I am your elder! I don’t need to answer to you!”</p>
<p>Another voice interjected. “No, but while you’re here, you have to answer to me.” A hooded figure appeared between the two of them. He casually tossed his hood aside, revealing his pink feathery hair. His voice had a rather melodious quality. Even his name, Marluxia, had a musical ring to it. Despite his delicate features, he was known for being quite ruthless, and he bore the nickname “the Graceful Assassin” quite proudly. “Xemnas bestowed all authority involving Castle Oblivion to me.”</p>
<p>Vexen pouted. If there was one thing ever member knew, Xemnas was often quick to show favoritism to those willing to get on his good side. Vexen considered himself to be a rather powerful sorcerer, and it annoyed him that he was being overlooked for the younger, more ambitious members who knew how to be politically savvy.</p>
<p>Marluxia shook his head hopelessly. “You can’t win others with vinegar, Vexen. Axel, you retrieve this girl that Vexen so miserably lost, seeing as how you played her knight in shining armor just now to Vexen’s ugly villainy.”</p>
<p>Vexen was about to protest but thought better of it. Sulking, he created a dark portal and disappeared. Axel smirked. He had always hated Vexen. Axel turned to Marluxia. “So, what’s so special about this girl? It didn’t look like he was trying to recruit her to our ranks.”</p>
<p>Marluxia only replied with the same smug expression. “That’s none of your concern for now. Just bring her back to me.”</p>
<p>Axel ambled towards the direction that he saw the girl run. He figured he might as well play along, seeing as how he did not know where to start looking for the tome. His journey led him right back to the Chamber of Repose, where he saw her crouched between two pods.</p>
<p>“Hey, girl,” Axel called out. “What’s your name?”</p>
<p>When the girl looked up at him, Axel was taken aback. She reminded him of Xion. She wore a white slip-on dress and had pale blonde hair. “I don’t know,” she replied. “I don’t have one.”</p>
<p>“You have no name? Okay, No-name, where are you from?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. I just woke up here.”</p>
<p>“Then that makes you a Nobody. What are your powers?”</p>
<p>“I don’t think I have any.”</p>
<p>“You have <em>no</em> powers? That doesn’t make sense. All Nobodies have dark powers.”</p>
<p>“But I don’t.”</p>
<p>“So, No-name, you are a Nobody without powers? No wonder Vexen took an interest in you.”</p>
<p>The girl gasped at the mention of his name. “Please don’t take me back to him!” she cried.</p>
<p>Axel suddenly felt sorry for her. He scratched the back of his head nervously and looked away. “Well, I think he’s been reassigned somewhere else, but I <em>do</em> have to take you to someone.” He offered his hand, which she reluctantly accepted. They talked for a little bit as they were walking back to where Marluxia was waiting. At some point, Axel ended up addressing her as “Namine,” which she said she liked better than “No-name” and so that stuck with her. When they finally returned to Marluxia, Namine was the name they went with. “Here’s your Dark-less Nobody,” Axel said flatly by way of introduction.</p>
<p>Marluxia grinned. “So now you know her secret, eh?”</p>
<p>“And what do you plan on doing with her?”</p>
<p>“She’s going to help us erase Sora’s memories.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Re: Chain of Memories</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Axel finds himself fighting with Sora all over again.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next day, Axel met with Saix in his chambers. Saix expressed his displeasure with Axel’s lack of progress, which infuriated Axel. “It’s not that easy!” Axel seethed. “I don’t have to remind you how big Castle Oblivion is, do I? Besides, do you know where we are in the timeline? Sora is inside there right now with Marluxia’s big plans. It would be too obvious that I’m looking around for something!”</p>
<p>“So? Aren’t you already involved in Marluxia’s plans anyway?” Saix retorted. “Go back out there and play your part <em>while </em>looking for the book! We might not have a lot of time!”</p>
<p>Axel hated the idea of ingratiating himself to Marluxia once again, but he reluctantly agreed.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Marluxia had just brought Sora to the entrance hall of Castle Oblivion and warned him about the bizarre nature of the place. “When you go in, Sora, you will be confronted with all your memories, but they will not be as they seem,” Marluxia explained.</p>
<p>“I don’t care about that!” Sora exclaimed, bracing himself with his Keyblade. “If Riku is trapped in here, I have to do everything I can to get him out! He can always help me remember who I am afterwards!”</p>
<p>Marluxia smirked. “Your bravery is commendable, but let’s see how strong you <em>really</em> are!”</p>
<p>Just as Marluxia was about to summon his powers, Axel suddenly popped up from behind him. “Hello!” Axel said in a gratingly cheerful manner.</p>
<p>Marluxia scowled. “What are <em>you</em> doing here?”</p>
<p>“Well, hey there! No hogging the hero now,” Axel replied dryly. “If you want to test out his limits, I’d be more than willing to do that!”</p>
<p>“Hmmph!” pouted Marluxia, but then as he thought about it, he seemed a little more intrigued. “All right,” he finally said. “When you’re finished, come back to me with a full report.”</p>
<p>Axel saluted Marluxia, who quickly disappeared into the dark portal. When Axel returned his attention back to Sora, he seemed a little surprised that Sora remained in his fighting stance. “Oh, that’s right,” Axel thought, “this is where Sora first met me.”</p>
<p>“Who are you people?!” Sora cried after seeing how Axel and Marluxia were able to appear and disappear by means of dark portals.</p>
<p>“<em>People</em>?” Axel snickered. “You’re already wrong there! But as for me, my name is Axel. Got it memorized?”</p>
<p>“I won’t have to once I’m through with you!” Sora retorted.</p>
<p>Axel sneered. He had forgotten how much he did not like Sora at that time. “Look, believe it or not, I’m actually trying to help you.”</p>
<p>“And <em>why</em> would you do that?”</p>
<p>“Well, you and I have a lot more in common than you realize. Besides, your fight is not with me; it’s your memories. Think, Sora, about the memory that is most precious to you. As you will soon find, that is what you are set to lose.”</p>
<p>Sora looked confused. “Is it… finding Riku?”</p>
<p>Axel smirked. “I’m afraid you’re just going to have to give it a little more thought than that. Would you like a hint?”</p>
<p>Sora paused for a moment, but then he shook his head. “I don’t need any help with that! I can do it on my own.”</p>
<p>Axel was pleased with this answer. “I wouldn’t expect less from a hero.” Axel produced his fiery chakrams and braced to attack.</p>
<p>Sora started. “I thought you said you wanted to help me!”</p>
<p>“Oh, but I am!” Axel replied gleefully. For Sora, this comment had a very sinister quality to it. He was so confused about how he was supposed to take Axel, whether friend or foe. Axel’s eyes were ablaze with a manic kind of excitement. “Don’t die on me now!” he said.</p>
<p>Axel threw his chakrams at Sora, who was able to successfully volley them back at him. Axel jumped out of the way of their trajectory and then re-materialized them into his hands and repeated the process. The two went back and forth like this for a while, until at one point, when Axel was charging at him, Sora swung his blade and hit Axel right in the stomach. Axel gasped out in pain as he flipped over from the impact with the Keyblade and crashed into a wall. “Congratulations, Sora,” Axel winced. “You passed.” When he got back up, he saw that Sora was still trying to go after him with his Keyblade. Not wanting to go through another attack, Axel summoned a firewall around himself.</p>
<p>Sora backed away from the fire. Despite the fact that there were flames all around him, Sora’s triumphant expression was quite clear to Axel. “Ready to give up?” Sora asked smugly.</p>
<p>“I said you <em>passed</em>!” Axel hissed. Once Sora put away his Keyblade, Axel allowed the ring of fire to disappear. “Here.” Axel produced a card and flung it at Sora.</p>
<p>Sora caught it and studied it. “What’s this?”</p>
<p>“It’s a key to the next floor up. You’re ready to take on Castle Oblivion.”</p>
<p>“Do I go through more of <em>that</em>?” Sora asked, referencing their battle.</p>
<p>“You will, but not from me… for a while.” As Sora was about to go up one floor, Axel said as an afterthought, “Oh yeah, if you see a book anywhere, make sure you give it to me.”</p>
<p>“What’s it called?” Sora asked.</p>
<p>“Never mind what it’s called! It’s not like we have a lot of books here to begin with!”</p>
<p>“Oh, okay,” Sora said as he unlocked the door at the end of the hall and went up the next floor.</p>
<p>Axel teleported himself to where Marluxia was and found that Namine was with him. She was sitting in a corner with her head bowed while Marluxia was standing over her, like she was being harangued. Marluxia turned to Axel as he approached them. “And how did it go?” Marluxia asked in his typical nonchalance.</p>
<p>“The kid has a lot of spunk,” Axel replied sourly. He was still smarting over his bad defeat. “He’s awfully loyal to this Riku person, perhaps to his own detriment.”</p>
<p>Marluxia grinned wickedly. “A character trait that will be of good use to us once we replace all his memories and make him the perfect puppet for <em>our</em> little faction.” He turned to Namine. “Isn’t that right?”</p>
<p>Namine said nothing and kept her head bowed.</p>
<p>“Let’s see how Larxene is doing,” Marluxia commented as disappeared into the dark portal.</p>
<p>So, Marluxia was about to create his very own puppet out of Sora in an attempt to overthrow Xemnas, not knowing that Xemnas had his own plans of similar design with the Replica Program. Riku would eventually save Sora before that could happen, and Axel would be tasked with assassinating Marluxia once Marluxia’s motives are exposed. The most precious memories that Sora had, which Axel was referring to earlier, would be that of Kairi. Those memories would eventually become personified into Xion. Namine would later on reclaim those memories for Sora, which would lead to Xion’s demise.</p>
<p>Now alone again, Axel came up to Namine, who remained unmoved. “Does it hurt, Namine,” he asked coldly, “knowing how many people’s lives you’re about to turn upside down?”</p>
<p>Namine was softly sniffling. When she raised her head to Axel, he was surprised to see tears streaming from her face. “I have to,” Namine replied sadly. “Marluxia said that if I didn’t, it would mean my life, and that of Sora’s.”</p>
<p>Axel once again felt moved to compassion. He had seen Xion look at him like that before, and it was not a particularly pleasant memory either. Axel tore his eyes away from hers to avoid betraying his feelings. He involuntarily glanced down at her lap and saw that she was holding a sketchpad with doodles of what looked like to be her and Sora. “Is that what you use to erase Sora’s memories?” Axel asked.</p>
<p>Namine nodded.</p>
<p>“Can you erase anyone’s memories with that?”</p>
<p>“I think so.”</p>
<p>Before they could say anything else to each other, Larxene suddenly appeared. “I am <em>so</em> exhausted after throwing that fight!” she sighed pretentiously.</p>
<p>Axel, in a fit of trying to hide his own amusement, commented as stoically as possible, “You look like you got burnt from your own lightning strikes.”</p>
<p>“What? Of all the –” Larxene sputtered in an outrage.</p>
<p>“Your hair, Larxene.” Axel motioned at his while encouraging her to look at her own.</p>
<p>She turned to a window and screeched at her own reflection. Her blonde hair, usually sleeked back straight, had become a ball of static, sticking straight up from the roots. Sora was not going to make it easy to go down.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Retconning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Saix and Axel try not to mess things up; meanwhile, Saix does something on his own.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Later on that night, when he noticed that Axel had not yet returned, Saix decided to go see for himself what was taking so long. As Saix arrived to Castle Oblivion, he found Axel right at the entrance, standing over Vexen’s disintegrating body. Vexen had confronted Axel over Namine, and it escalated into an all-out battle between the two. As Saix approached him, Axel looked up. He had a solemn expression on his face.</p>
<p>“What?” Saix said, alarmed by Axel’s grave demeanor.</p>
<p>“I killed him,” Axel replied flatly.</p>
<p>“So? You’ve killed him before. What’s the problem?”</p>
<p>“It’s too early in the timeline! We’re not even at the part where Vexen found Roxas yet!”</p>
<p>“What? How did he end up doing something different?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know! Maybe <em>I</em> acted differently?! What are we going to do? How are we going to do fix this?” Axel looked like he was about to panic. It was so unbecoming of a Nobody to show that much emotion.</p>
<p>“Can’t you keep your wits about you?” Saix whispered earnestly, seizing Axel by the shoulders. “You want to be overheard? Look – we don’t need Vexen to find Roxas! We already <em>know</em> where he is! We’ll just do that part a little early, that’s all. That is definitely not messing up the timeline.”</p>
<p>Axel and Saix went over to the Chamber of Repose and made a beeline to where Roxas’ pod was. As anticipated, Roxas did not wake up despite the fact that Nobodies are typically activated once the door of the pod is open. Roxas looked like a sixteen year old version of Ventus, which was the last time Saix and Axel saw him before they became Nobodies. Axel suddenly felt depressed as he knew what Roxas was about to go through.</p>
<p>“There, you see,” Saix said as reassuringly as possible. “Now all we have to do is wait for him to wake up.”</p>
<p>“So we didn’t ruin the timeline?”</p>
<p>“No. The continuity remains. We haven’t really done anything different than what we did before.” Saix pulled out a needle and syringe from his coat and stuck Roxas.</p>
<p>“What are you doing?” Axel asked warily.</p>
<p>“What do you think? I’m drawing out some of Roxas’ essence so that I can create Xion.”</p>
<p>Axel looked puzzled. “You’re doing that now?”</p>
<p>“Might as well. Besides, I thought you <em>wanted</em> to relive your time with Roxas.”</p>
<p>“Not here! He doesn’t even talk for three days!”</p>
<p>“And you’re fulfilling your part in the continuity by sticking around that long!”</p>
<p>Axel scoffed but made no further protests.</p>
<p>When Saix returned to the Organization Headquarters, he announced to Xemnas that they had discovered Sora’s Nobody in the Chamber of Repose, but he did not seem to be alive since Sora still existed and with all his memories intact.</p>
<p>“Nobodies are created when a person dies,” Xemnas reminded Saix matter-of-factly.</p>
<p>“Yes, my liege, and Sora did die a while back, only to come back to life,” Saix responded to him in an equally monotonous way.</p>
<p>“Then… his Nobody may be defected. He must be discarded at once.”</p>
<p>“If I may, my liege, I think this might be an excellent time to try out the Replica Program.”</p>
<p>Xemnas grinned at the suggestion. The Replica Program had been a top secret project while it was in development. It had not been perfected, but it was a good opportunity to test out its strengths and flaws. Xemnas advised Saix that as soon as the puppet was complete, the original would need to be eradicated to avoid any potential lingering side effects. Saix agreed.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Saix returned to Castle Oblivion and entered Chamber X, where the Replica Program was housed. He placed the vial of Roxas’ essence in the receptacle and filled a blank husk. Xion’s image materialized onto the husk, but it was not the Xion that he last remembered. Rather, she was first introduced to the world wearing her black coat and her hood over her face. If one were to peer into the hood, it would just look like shadows and a mouth.</p>
<p>“Xion, say your name,” Saix commanded, “so I know that you’re awake.”</p>
<p>“Xi-on,” she said mechanically. Saix had forgotten that Xion had the personality of a plank of wood when she was first created.</p>
<p>Saix pulled out a small object from his coat. It was a locket that he had swiped from Xemnas’ room right before he returned to Castle Oblivion. He had etched a little engraving on it. He held it out to her. “Guard this with your life, Xion. Let no one see this, including me from here on out. The truth about who you are is on this locket, regardless of what else anyone has to say.”</p>
<p>Xion reached out and took the locket from Saix. She briefly read it and placed it within the folds of her coat. “I will guard this with my life,” she repeated monotonously.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Coup</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Saix and Axel fear that their plans have been discovered.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Saix returned to the Chamber of Repose, he found Axel propped up against a wall across from Roxas’ pod, sleeping. Saix shook Axel awake and told him he was finished with what he needed to do.</p>
<p>“Finally,” Axel muttered. When he looked into Roxas’ pod, he saw that Roxas still had his eyes closed. That meant that somewhere, Sora was still walking through Castle Oblivion. Axel was growing concerned. “Isa… something’s wrong here.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“Sora seems to be taking longer than I thought he would.”</p>
<p>“You mean because Roxas is still asleep? Remember, we found him early.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know, but… something still seems out of sorts. I mean, I haven’t even had my second fight with him yet. I think it should have happened by now.”</p>
<p>“Then that is unusual. Let’s see what’s going on.”</p>
<p>“Wait – why are you coming?”</p>
<p>“In case anything goes awry. Besides, I don’t think it’s going to affect the continuity that much. Who else knows about Marluxia’s plans other than you and me?”</p>
<p>“Well, Larxene, but she got eradicated during her second fight. So… no one else, I think.”</p>
<p>“Then Marluxia would not be dumb enough to blab about us if he thinks we’re up to something. Okay, let’s go.”</p>
<p>Together, Axel and Saix went up all the floors of Castle Oblivion in search of both Sora and the tome. As they were proceeding up each floor, Saix had a dreadful feeling that Axel’s premonition might, in fact, be warranted. When they finally reached the very top floor, they saw Marluxia in all his flowery glory, hovering over an unresponsive Sora on his right and a despondent Namine on his left. Because Axel and Sora never had their second fight, Sora arrived to the top of Castle Oblivion early. On the previous timeline, Riku was able to save Sora before coming into Marluxia’s clutches. Sensing their presence, Marluxia turned his head to them, where they were standing by the entrance. “Looking for this?” he asked, holding up what looked like the Tome of the Unknown.</p>
<p>Axel and Saix stiffened as they were not sure how to respond.</p>
<p>Marluxia continued, “Sora told me that you were in earnest search for a book.”</p>
<p>Saix turned frustratingly to Axel, whispering, “Why did you bring Sora into this?” Axel just tittered sheepishly and shrugged.</p>
<p>Marluxia went on, “I should have known, Axel, that you had your own agenda in mind when you agreed to come to Castle Oblivion with me. Cooperative play has never exactly been your cup of tea.”</p>
<p>“What do you care?” retorted Axel. “You have your puppet.”</p>
<p>“Because I looked in the book. Do you know what’s in it?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“Does Sora know?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>Marluxia held his scythe up against Sora. Axel and Saix immediately produced their own weapons. They were holding their breaths, waiting for Marluxia’s next move. Marluxia smiled as he carefully watched their reactions. “I knew it,” he said with a self-satisfactory smug. “You are in cahoots with Sora. Well, now you’re going to tell me exactly how to harness the powers of Kingdom Hearts.”</p>
<p>“We don’t know!” Saix insisted.</p>
<p>“I don’t believe you.”</p>
<p>For the longest time, the three of them just stood there in a standoff, waiting for what their opponent would do next. Neither Axel nor Saix dared to look at each other. If they were going to do anything, they would have to wing it. Suddenly, Axel threw one of his chakrams to the left. While Marluxia was in the process of deflecting it, Axel dodged to the right and raced as quickly as possible over to Sora. Marluxia took his scythe and swung it down furiously over Axel, but by then, Axel had already grabbed Sora and was able to roll out of the way. He summoned a ring of fire around Sora and Namine to keep Marluxia away from them. Saix rushed over to Marluxia and struck him with his claymore, which sent Marluxia flying across the room. Frustrated, Marluxia then converted into his Angel of Death form, where he was now holding two scythes and grew three times his height. He took his two scythes and swung them at Axel and Saix, who both barely got out of the way. As the scythes came crashing down, they created a huge hole in the floor that Axel and Saix almost fell into. Axel threw his chakrams, which pinned Marluxia to the wall, while Saix hurled his claymore directly into his chest. Marluxia screamed as he converted back into his original form and collapsed on the ground. Axel and Saix ran over to Marluxia, who was writhing in agony on the floor as he faced the final throes of death. Even so, he managed to resume a stoic demeanor upon Axel’s approach. “What did you see when you opened the tome?” Axel asked urgently.</p>
<p>“Why, Axel, not even a good-bye as I make my denouement?” Marluxia laughed dryly. He then took on a more somber expression. “When I opened it, I saw you for what you were, and you were… exactly like me.”</p>
<p>Axel looked perplexed. “Well that can’t be right. In case you didn’t notice, flowers aren’t really my thing.”</p>
<p>Marluxia smirked at Axel’s perpetual sarcasm. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Marluxia closed his eyes one last time as he dissolved into dust.</p>
<p>Before Axel had time to process Marluxia’s last words, Saix grabbed him by the arm. “There’s someone else coming! We have to hide!”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. The Tome of the Unknown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Saix and Axel encounter Riku. Meanwhile they find the last of the tombs.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Axel and Saix hurried behind a nearby pillar as they waited for the latest intruder to make his appearance. It was not long before they heard a shout: “Namine! What happened here?” They immediately recognized the voice. It was Riku.</p>
<p>Namine’s response was cut short when they heard Riku speak again: “Wait a minute. I can smell Darkness! They’re still here.”</p>
<p>“Oh, that’s right,” Axel whispered to Saix. “This is blindfold Riku.”</p>
<p>“Which means we basically hid all for nothing,” Saix groaned.</p>
<p>Axel and Saix gasped when Riku suddenly appeared before them while they were trying to deliberate on their next move. “What did you do to Sora?” he snarled.</p>
<p>“Look, he was already like that when we arrived,” Saix insisted.</p>
<p>“I don’t believe you,” Riku replied bluntly. He produced his Keyblade and charged at them. Axel and Saix took out their weapons and deflected Riku’s blows to the best of their abilities while also trying to run away from him. Riku, however, seemed determined to kill them, and so he removed his blindfolds, turning into Dark Riku. In his Dark form, he summoned a gale and blasted them, so they went flying across the room.</p>
<p>“Riku, no! They’re telling the truth!” Namine exclaimed.</p>
<p>“What?” Riku replied. His fury died down and was replaced with confusion.</p>
<p>“It’s true,” she continued. “There was another Organization member here, and he threatened to kill Sora, but they saved him.”</p>
<p>Riku had replaced his blindfolds but nonetheless turned to Saix and Axel as if he could see them. “I don’t understand – what’s in it for you?”</p>
<p>Saix had forgotten how annoyingly brusque and snappy Riku used to be. It was a stark contrast to Sora’s affable, outgoing demeanor. Saix wondered how the two ever became friends to begin with, but then again one could ask the same question about him and Lea. “It’s kind of hard to explain,” Saix began.</p>
<p>“No, it isn’t,” Axel countered. “It’s actually really <em>easy</em> to explain, but maybe hard to believe. We’re here from the future, and all we want is this book called the Tome of the Unknown. So, let’s have it so we can be on our way.”</p>
<p>Saix scoffed at Axel’s casual blatancy. “Must you show them <em>all</em> our cards? You, with your concern about maintaining the integrity of the timeline, yet you manage to screw it up every step out of the way!”</p>
<p>“Hey! <em>I’m</em> not the one who suggested doing things early!” Axel retorted. “If it weren’t for that, Riku would’ve already been here before us, and we wouldn’t have to deal with him now!”</p>
<p>“Guys,” Riku interjected, “would it help if I told you that I could care less about whatever is going on with you two? I mean, I’m walking my own path; I don’t have time to be wrapped up in yours.”</p>
<p>Namine held up the Tome of the Unknown and presented it to Axel and Saix. “I think this is what you were looking for. Marluxia only knew about it because he overheard Sora asking me about a book.”</p>
<p>Axel looked surprised. “You mean, you knew where it was all along?”</p>
<p>Namine smiled. “I do, because it had always been inside of me. When I materialized it and gave it to Sora, Marluxia snatched it from me. He opened it, and there was this look of shock in his face. I don’t know what he saw, but he knew you were coming for it, so he made me call you up here.” Namine picked up a piece of paper and showed Axel a drawing of himself, Saix, Sora, and Marluxia in the same room.</p>
<p>“You can… manipulate thoughts?” Axel surmised quizzically.</p>
<p>“I implant them. I don’t really erase memories; I replace them. Memories can never truly be erased – just buried or moved. If you want, I can manipulate your memories so that by the time you return to your own time, the ‘you’ that is left here will not have any knowledge of your future selves.”</p>
<p>Axel turned to Saix. “How badly did we screw with the timeline?”</p>
<p>Saix thought about it. “Well, I guess everyone who was supposed to die did. I don’t think we really screwed with it at all, just with the way we went about it.”</p>
<p>Axel turned back to Namine. “Okay,” he agreed. “But now that you know everything about us, can you do me a favor? Roxas is down there. Look after him. Make sure he comes out of that pod okay. And he still gets to exist for a year.”</p>
<p>“Of course!” Namine acquiesced happily. “When you’re ready to go back to your time, just open the tome. Leave everything else to me.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Lea and Isa</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lea and Isa have a heart-to-heart.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Isa came to, he saw that he had been reclining with his head back against the armchair. For a minute he was not quite sure where he was. He looked down and saw that he had the Tome of the Past on his lap, wide open. On the pages themselves was nothing but soft swirls descending into a vortex, not unlike what he had seen from the pages of the Tome of Darkness. Underneath it he held the Tome of the Unknown. He was quite perplexed with how it got there. Did opening the Tome of the Past cause the Tome of the Unknown to suddenly appear? He closed both books and saw that the eyes of the covers were glowing. So, they were both activated. He could only imagine, then, that perhaps he did visit the past. But how badly did he mess with the continuity of the timeline?</p>
<p>When he looked at the other side of the room, he saw that Lea was still out of it and tied to the staircase exactly as Isa remembered. At least the present was not altered. Still, he was growing concerned as he felt Lea should have regained consciousness on his own by now. Isa knelt down next to him and shook him by the shoulder. When it produced little effect, he decided that he needed a more drastic approach. “Wake up!” Isa yelled and slapped him right across the face.</p>
<p>Lea grunted from the impact and was startled awake. “Hey…,” he said drowsily. As Lea slowly started to remember himself, he said, with greater conviction, “Hey, you slapped me!”  </p>
<p>“Oh, like you didn’t do far worse!” Isa scoffed.</p>
<p>“What? Bad enough to tie me up?”</p>
<p>“You punched me in the face!”</p>
<p>“And you bashed me in the head!”</p>
<p>“That was totally justified, believe me.”</p>
<p>“Well, haven’t you heard of concussions? I mean, they can’t be good.”</p>
<p>“With you, I think it hardly makes a difference at this point.”</p>
<p>“What’s that supposed to mean?”</p>
<p>“It means you’re nuts.”</p>
<p>Lea rolled his eyes. “Oh. I see you’ve joined Ven’s bandwagon.”</p>
<p>“Really, Lea, <em>really</em>? You can’t possibly lack that much self-awareness! You’re so all over the place, no one knows how to respond to you anymore! One minute you’re in your own little world, the next you’re trying to enter the castle with a weapon. Honestly, your craziness is driving <em>me</em> crazy!”</p>
<p>“So go, then! No one says you have to stick around. I mean, it’s not like you have for the past three years anyway.”</p>
<p>“Oh, sure, throw that in my face again!”</p>
<p>“Okay, why’d you stay away to begin with?”</p>
<p>“Well I…” Isa thought about it. He realized that after the Keyblade War, he had put a considerable distance between himself and Lea, although he was not sure why at first. Perhaps he noticed that there was a shift in the dynamics of their relationship. When they were kids, Isa was always there to tell Lea what to do. Then, when they were Nobodies, he was still telling him what to do. Isa had always believed that if Lea had been left to his own device, he would have been a bum since he always came off as really lazy, never wanting to do anything but daydream and slack off. When Isa came back to the world of the living out of the Realm of Darkness, he was secretly impressed with how well Lea was doing and – he would not dare to admit this to himself – even a little jealous. Ventus was there and seemed to be a really good influence. Lea was close to both Ventus and Xion by that point, who were his best friends during their time at the Organization. All in all, Isa did not really see where he had fit in within that little circle. “I guess…” he pondered, “I guess I figured you really didn’t need me anymore. I mean, I don’t even know how to help you now.”</p>
<p>Lea laughed at Isa’s sentiments. They seemed to be really out of character for Isa. “Give me a break! I <em>never</em> needed you. But I do want you in my life, and not just for your help.”</p>
<p>“Well, what do you want me to do, then?”</p>
<p>“Nothing! You can just… I don’t know… be there.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” Somehow the act of “being there” felt like a foreign concept to Isa. He had always been so task-oriented, that if he was doing nothing, he would have felt like he was wasting time. Even now, he could not resist bringing them back to the task at hand. “Listen, there is something I need to tell you, but you have to promise me that you’re not going overreact to what I’m about to say.”</p>
<p>Lea regarded Isa warily. “Okay…”</p>
<p>“I mean it! I have no problem keeping you tied like that if you start losing it again!”</p>
<p>“Well, what then?!”</p>
<p>“Okay, here it is: I think you may be onto something about Braig.”</p>
<p>Lea started and looked like he was going to bounce off the floor.</p>
<p>“No! I just told you <em>not</em> to do that!”</p>
<p>“But I was right!” Lea exclaimed with untempered excitement despite Isa’s warnings. “<em>I was right</em>! And you thought I was crazy!”</p>
<p>“In this case, you’re both.”</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah? So how did you figure out about Braig?”</p>
<p>“Because…” Isa began hesitantly, “when I found the Tome of the Past, Braig went missing.”</p>
<p>“<em>You lost him?!</em>” Lea exploded. He wanted to lunge at Isa. He tried to rip himself off the rail as he pulled and twisted in every direction. “I can’t believe you! Don’t you know how dangerous he is? He’s trying to recreate Kingdom Hearts with the Keyblade that has a gazing eye!”</p>
<p>Isa tried to remain as collected possible to maintain the upper hand of the situation. “Look, I’ll gladly listen, but you need to be calm and slow down so I can understand you better. Now… what were you saying about Kingdom Hearts?”</p>
<p>Lea angrily slumped back on the floor as he glared at Isa. “He has. A Keyblade. It has. An Eye. His eye. He uses it. To see. The future. To manipulate. Events. To create. Kingdom Hearts!”</p>
<p>Isa quietly took this information into consideration. They were now both scrutinizing each other, Lea wanting to make sure that Isa understood, and Isa wanting assurance that Lea was of sound mind. After a few minutes of silence, Isa shrugged. The concept did not seem any more far-fetching than what they had encountered so far. “Okay. I believe you.”</p>
<p>After Isa cut off the binds, Lea brought his arms in front of him and examined his wrists, although he did not bother get off the floor. Isa handed Lea the two tomes that they had recovered. “Where did you find them?” Lea asked.</p>
<p>“Well, the Tome of the Past I found… somewhere… and then when I opened it, it seemed to have produced the Tome of the Unknown.”</p>
<p>“That was easy – I guess. So now what?”</p>
<p>“Let’s go get Ven and just take it from there.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Luxu</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lea and Isa had an unfortunate encounter.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lea and Isa had just left Isa’s residence and were walking down the road when suddenly Braig appeared before them. They both started, like they had seen a ghost. “Boy, Braig, you must really have a death wish to show up the way you did!” Isa called out.</p>
<p>Braig flashed a knowing grin. “As if!” he retorted. “You wouldn’t want to kill me if you ever want to find Sora!”</p>
<p>“Sora’s missing?” Lea asked in bewilderment.</p>
<p>Braig let out a loud guffaw. “What did you do, Isa, break him? Yes, Lea, Sora has been missing for quite some time! Try to keep up.”</p>
<p>“Are <em>you</em> responsible for him being missing?”</p>
<p>“I guess in a way you could say that,” he replied with a casual shrug. “But really I’m just here to oil the cogs of destiny. Gotta keep those wheels turning, you know.”</p>
<p>“What did you do?”</p>
<p>“Nothing yet, since I’ve been waiting for you guys to find all the tomes. I’m amazed by how long it took. You all are surprisingly incompetent. I mean, at one point I had to help you, or you would’ve never figured it out!”</p>
<p>Lea appeared confused. “Huh? How did you help us?”</p>
<p>Isa could feel all the blood drain from his face as he thought about Xion. Braig sneered and looked like he was about to say something more, when Ventus suddenly appeared from behind him with a sword in hand, ready to strike. Without looking back, Braig grabbed the sword, effectively pulling both the sword and Ventus forward so that they were facing him. He was able to yank the sword from Ventus’ grasp and shoved him in Lea and Isa’s direction. “I am getting <em>too old</em> for this,” Braig griped. “You guys want to see Sora or not?”</p>
<p>“You know where Sora is?” Ventus asked in surprise.</p>
<p>Braig exhaled in exasperation. “I was <em>just</em> finished telling your friends that! The last of the tomes have been found.”</p>
<p>“How do you know that?”</p>
<p>“You saw that glowing eye on the cover of the tomes? That alerts me to their locations when they’ve been opened. Riku has the last one. Call him so that he can bring me the Tome of Light and restore the Book of Prophecies. Then I’ll show you where Sora is.”</p>
<p>“Why should we give it to you?”</p>
<p>Braig sneered again. “Oh, I’m sorry – do <em>you</em> know how to use it? <em>No</em>? Well, I guess you’ll have to give it to me so that I can show you how it’s done. Otherwise you’ll never figure it out, and Sora would just have to be lost forever.”</p>
<p>As much as Ventus wanted to keep arguing, he realized that Braig was right. Neither Lea nor Isa offered any other suggestions. Without further ado, everyone marched back to Isa’s place so that they can make a call to Riku. After the call was made, Lea, Isa, and Ventus sat on the couch while Braig sat perpendicular to them on the armchair. The initial tension that was in the air before gave way to some kind of boredom as they waited for Riku to arrive. What could have taken half an hour for him to get there might as well have been an eternity. Still, no one dared to move from their positions and just lapsed into staring at one another until Lea broke the awkward silence. “Where’s your friend?” he asked scornfully.</p>
<p>Braig regarded Lea with equal disdain. “You’re talking about my Keyblade? Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough. Oh, yeah, here’s your sword back.” Braig tossed Ventus’ sword so that it clattered not too far from their feet. With some hesitance, Ventus picked it up.</p>
<p>“So…,” Ventus said uncertainly, “exactly how old <em>are</em> you?”</p>
<p>Braig shrugged. “Eh, about a thousand more or less. It’s not consecutive either. You kind of lose track after the first few hundred.”</p>
<p>“Was Xehanort older than you?” Ventus continued.</p>
<p>“Xehanort?” Braig scoffed emphatically. “That old coot? I doubt it. Otherwise he would not have been so irresponsible with the Powers of Darkness.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“What do you think? Possession, my friend. He had split his heart too many times, and the pieces just couldn’t be put back together. Too bad!”</p>
<p>Just then, they heard knocking on the door. After no one bothered getting up, Braig, out of frustration, finally offered to open the door. When Riku and Kairi saw Lea, Isa, and Ventus sitting quietly on the couch and in the presence of Braig, Riku commented dryly, “Don’t tell me he has you guys attached to electrodes.”</p>
<p>Braig threw his head back and laughed as if it was the funniest thing he had heard all day. “That’s not fair, Riku,” he replied after recovering himself. “I’m only here to help.”</p>
<p>Riku regarded Braig in askance. “I don’t believe you,” he replied.</p>
<p>“Have it your way then! I just need the Tome of Light from you.” He reached out and waited for Riku to hand it over, but Riku stalled. “Riku,” Braig cajoled, “I <em>want</em> you to find Sora as much as you do.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but I’m also not stupid. I know what you’re after. You want Kingdom Hearts.”</p>
<p>“I won’t deny that. But we can discuss it when we cross that bridge, okay?”</p>
<p>Riku handed Braig the Tome of Light. As Braig gathered all the tomes, it formed into a single volume, the Book of Prophecies. Shortly after the Keyblade with the Gazing Eye materialized. Braig’s typical sneering expression softened as he took the Keyblade and marveled at its form. “At last I finally have you!” he said. “At last… I am whole once again!” His clothing transformed into the black coat just like from the Organization. There was a dark halo over him.</p>
<p>“That Keyblade is a part of <em>you</em>, Braig?” Ventus asked, dumbfounded.</p>
<p>“Indeed,” he replied. “But with it, I am no longer Braig. My real name is Luxu, Keeper of the Prophecies.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. The Final World</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Luxu transports everyone to The Final World, and revelations are made.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With Luxu now made whole, Riku asked him impatiently, “Okay, so now you will take us to Sora, right?”</p>
<p>Luxu smiled. “Of course,” he replied enigmatically. He took his Keyblade and struck it against the ground. At that moment, the image of their surroundings dissolved. In its stead everything from the floor to ceiling was a sky blue backdrop with clouds. When Riku looked around, he saw that he was alone. Lea, Isa, Ventus, and Kairi had all vanished.</p>
<p>“What did you do?” Riku cried to Luxu, completely bewildered.</p>
<p>“You’ve been teleported,” Luxu replied. “This is called the Final World. There is nothing beyond here.”</p>
<p>From a distance, Riku saw Yozora emerge with a determined expression as he materialized his Keyblade. Riku also produced his and the two faced off once again, but this time, for real.</p>
<p>“So… you do have Sora,” Riku said somberly.</p>
<p>“I do, but you’ll have to fight me for him,” Yozora replied in an equally grave tone. The two were circling one another, studying the other’s move to brace for an attack. “Defeat me, and you can see his face!” Yozora charged at Riku with his Keyblade. As he made his first strike, Riku was able to block.</p>
<p>“Look, I don’t have any qualms with you,” Riku tried to reason with him. “I’m not trying to hurt him; I just want him back!” Yozora charged at Riku again and attempted another strike; this time, Riku back-flipped out of the way.</p>
<p>Riku’s attempts to placate his opponent were proving to be ineffective. Yozora was just as hateful as ever. “Open your eyes, O agent of Darkness! Your co-existence is untenable!”</p>
<p>“What?!” Riku shrieked. He felt the rage growing inside of him, like a powerful explosion was about to set off. Like a ferocious wind, he rushed at Yozora and tore through him with his Keyblade. Yozora flew back and crashed to the ground. He staggered up and charged at Riku, but as Yozora came at him, Riku once again struck Yozora so hard that he went careening several feet away. Riku strode over to Yozora in fierce determination to finish him.</p>
<p>Suddenly, the world around him cracked and shattered like glass as Ventus smashed through from the other side. “It’s just an illusion, Riku!” he cried. What stood before them now was a large battlefield, not unlike the one Riku saw when he had opened the Tome of Light. He looked around as he saw dead bodies everywhere. He did not want to look at their faces. He knew that they were all young men, at the prime of their lives, just like him and Sora.</p>
<p>Riku kept his eyes steadfastly on Yozora and continued to advance. Isa quickly pulled Riku back. “You don’t have to fight!” he insisted.</p>
<p>Riku turned to Isa in a state of confusion. Did they not see that Yozora was the one attacking him? “But if I don’t fight,” Riku said, “he’s just going to come back after me!” Riku turned to Yozora and saw that, sure enough, to his dismay, Yozora had got up again, as resolute as ever to bring Riku down. There was a crazed look in his eyes as Yozora recognized that the next encounter would prove fatal to one of them. As Yozora charged at him once more, Riku attempted to put himself on the defense. Riku felt the impact of their sudden clash, although he barely saw what happened, as it went by so fast. There was an empty look in Yozora’s eyes, his mouth slacked open. As Riku looked down, he saw that there was blood between them. When he pulled away, he quickly realized that it was not his own. He was still holding on to his Keyblade and saw that it had penetrated Yozora’s chest. As Riku retracted his blade, Yozora fell to his knees.</p>
<p>“Riku, no!” That was Kairi’s voice. He found that they were back at the Final World. He turned to Kairi’s direction and saw the look of horror and devastation in her face.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” he asked her.</p>
<p>“Turn around,” she said in a trembling voice.</p>
<p>Riku looked back at Yozora and noticed that Yozora’s face had transformed into that of Sora’s. It was Sora’s face that had the empty expression. It was Sora that was kneeling and clutching onto his chest. Riku’s heart sank when he realized the full extent of what he had done. He ran to Sora and caught him just before he crumpled to the ground. “What did you make me do?!” Riku screamed as he held his dying friend. He pressed his hand against the wound in hopes to stop the bleeding, but it just came seeping out through Riku’s fingers.</p>
<p>“Riku,” Sora gasped, “it would’ve been you if not me.”</p>
<p>“But why?”</p>
<p>“Don’t you remember?”</p>
<p>“What? What am I supposed to remember?!” Riku asked frantically.</p>
<p>“Think back to Kingdom Hearts.”</p>
<p>As Riku gazed into Sora’s eyes, he found himself being transported to several lifetimes ago. They were in a battlefield amongst fallen warriors, but it was Riku who was dying in Sora’s arms. When Sora pleaded to the heavens, he received no response. When he pleaded to the grave, Riku had already passed over. A spirit from the grave heard Sora and offered to send Riku back in exchange for opening a portal that would allow for Darkness to enter into Light. This was done through the use of Kingdom Hearts – the heart of a powerful warrior. Desperate to bring his friend back, Sora agreed and killed himself with the use of a blade that was endowed with special powers. Riku came back but Sora disappeared. Riku then made it his mission to keep Kingdom Hearts open through use of the special blade that became the Master Keyblade in hopes to bring Sora back, but failed to see it through in his lifetime. Only now, after several cycles and generations had passed, as the natural order had been upset over and over again to the point that it had descended into chaos, did they come back together once more to undo what they had done just so they can be forced back into it by their destinies that are held steadfast by the powers of Darkness.</p>
<p>“You…,” Riku whispered in astonishment, “you made Kingdom Hearts.” The bleeding at that point had stopped, but now light was coming out. Riku looked up and saw that Kingdom Hearts was now already forming. “I wish you had just let me die,” Riku said tearfully. “I spent an entire lifetime without you, trying to bring you back. I don’t think I can go through that again.”</p>
<p>For the longest time, no one else dared to speak. Even Luxu felt loathed to open his mouth at first. As he came up to Riku and Sora, he had taken on a rather serious demeanor that was not very typical of him. “So,” he said, “now you know how Kingdom Hearts came to be. You’ve always been part of the Darkness, Riku. We gave you up in exchange for Kingdom Hearts. Since you’ve destroyed it, we’re calling you to account again. I take it there won’t be any more resistance from you?”</p>
<p>Riku turned angrily to Luxu. “What fight is there left in me?” Riku heaved. “I have none.”</p>
<p>Yozora, who was now in his true form as an angel of Darkness, suddenly reappeared before Riku and became a dark portal beneath Sora to take him to the Realm of Darkness. Riku had been holding onto Sora that entire time. Even as he saw that Sora was slipping into it, he chose not to let go, and he too got swallowed into the Darkness.</p>
<p>“Riku!” Kairi cried. She appealed to Lea, Ventus, and Isa, who had been standing like statues in their state of stunned silence. “Please! Please do something!” When they did not react, Kairi ran to the portal and jumped in.</p>
<p>They seemed to have suddenly awakened as if from a trance. “What is this?” Isa cried. “Is <em>everyone</em> going in?”</p>
<p>“How can the legends be so wrong?” Ventus exclaimed. “The Darkness, it had the upper hand this entire time.”</p>
<p>“And so, as foretold, Darkness prevailed, and Light expired,” Lea said.</p>
<p>“What?” Isa asked perplexingly.</p>
<p>“The Book of Prophecies,” Lea explained. “That’s how it ended. Terrible, right? I thought you guys read it.”</p>
<p>“How can you <em>read</em> the thing? It’s just a bunch of scribbles.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Luxu always had lousy handwriting.”</p>
<p>“That’s not what I meant!”</p>
<p>“Wait a minute – you’re saying <em>Luxu</em> wrote the Book of Prophecies?” Ventus turned to Lea in surprise. “How do you even know that?”</p>
<p>“Because <em>I </em>was his apprentice. Luxu recorded the events of Kingdom Heart’s creation as it was happening to ensure its fate. He seemed to have conveniently forgotten – as did I until now – that as part of my job, I co-authored the book. And <em>guess</em> who wrote the Tome of Perception?”</p>
<p>Isa sighed, as he knew it was meant to be a rhetorical question. “Was it <em>you</em>?”</p>
<p>Lea grinned. “The beauty of that tome is that it’s the only one that is editable as it changes all the time. Of course, you still can’t have paradoxes or re-dos or anything like that.” Lea crouched down and as discreetly as possible tried to summon the Book of Prophecies away from Luxu, where it had been sitting plainly by his feet. Lea opened the Book of Prophecies, materialized a pen, and quickly jotted something down on the tome. “There!” he beamed with satisfaction.</p>
<p>It was not long before Luxu felt the book’s absence. “Hey!” Luxu cried angrily and ran towards them with his Keyblade in hand.</p>
<p>“What did you write?” Isa asked with increasing alarm as he saw Luxu rushing closer to them.</p>
<p>“You’ll see,” Lea replied with a conspiratorial air. “Just cover for me.”</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Descent Into Darkness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lea throw Luxu for a loop.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Lea tossed the Book of Prophecies to Isa, he saw Lea transform. His eyes flashed a dark purple light and two large black wings sprouted out from his shoulder blades. The wings were the same height as Lea but double the width of his arms’ span. He shot up just as Luxu was rushing towards them. Isa saw that Luxu took on the same transformation, and for a minute Luxu was chasing Lea all over the sky like a firefly until he realized that Lea did not have the Book of Prophecies in his possession. To Isa’s abject terror, Luxu spotted the book in Isa’s hands and took a nosedive right into Isa’s direction! At that moment he and Ventus took on the same transformation as Lea and Luxu, except they had white wings and their eyes were glowing bright yellow. Isa then figured out the gist of what Lea had written – the recreation of Kingdom Hearts had triggered a new battle between heaven and hell, and they were their fighters! Isa flew out of Luxu’s way at that last second. While Isa was still trying to get used to flying, he looked around to see where Lea went and spotted him plunging headfirst into the portal to the Realm of Darkness. Isa felt annoyed of the fact that Lea left him and Ventus with Luxu yet concerned about what the Realm of Darkness had in store for him.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lea flew down into the Realm of Darkness as fast as he could. He saw that Riku was still holding onto Sora, and Kairi was holding onto both of them. They were all in total freefall. He could not believe how it was possible that they were descending faster than he could accelerate. The further down they went the harder it was to see. At a certain point, all he could make out was the light from their hearts. He noticed that the light in Sora’s heart had already expired, and Riku’s was fading away as well. Kairi’s was still shining, but it too was quickly waning. He pushed himself as hard as he could, knowing that they were running out of time. By then, the Darkness was so dense, that it felt palpable and invasive. There was no telling how far the depths were. As the light in Riku’s heart had now faded, Kairi’s was becoming dim. Lea reached out desperately as he kept pushing himself to move faster. To his relief he felt another hand. It was Kairi’s. He did not know that she had been reaching out for him as well. He pulled them all in and was about to head out, but when he looked up, he could not see any openings. There was no light above him – just sheer black. He searched frantically for anything that could give him a sense of direction, but there was nothing. There was not enough time to wander around. In an effort to keep Kairi’s light from dying out, he folded his wings and cocooned everyone inside.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Kairi.”</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“Nothing. I just wanted to make sure you were still awake.”</p>
<p>“Oh.”</p>
<p>They had been floating and/or falling for what felt like an eternity. Neither time nor space existed in this primordial form of Darkness.</p>
<p>“Lea, are we dead?” Kairi finally mustered.</p>
<p>“Not yet.”</p>
<p>“What about Sora and Riku?”</p>
<p>“No… they’re just asleep.”</p>
<p>“How is it that the Darkness did not overtake us?”</p>
<p>“Do you remember the coats from the Organization?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Well, they’re made out of material that protects one from the effects of the Darkness. My wings are made out of that same material.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” There was a faint glow from Kairi’s heart, which allowed them to see each other’s outline, but not much else. Kairi glanced over at her friends. Their eyes were closed and bore no expression or awareness of what was happening to them. They looked almost peaceful. “I wish there was something we can do for them,” Kairi sighed.</p>
<p>“There is. Just hold on to their memories. That’s all they have now. Your light will need to be enough for all three of you while we get out.”</p>
<p>“But what if we never get out?”</p>
<p>“We will. You have to believe that. Ven and Isa will figure out how to show us the way.” Lea peered out from a little opening through his wings. There was nothing. As much as a part of him wanted to fall into a state of despair, he chose to cling to hope for the sake of Kairi, Sora, and Riku. To give up would be to lose them forever.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. The Battle of Light</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Isa and Ventus challenge Luxu.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Luxu was chasing after him, Isa suddenly remembered that was fighting was an option. “Oh, that’s right – I must have a Keyblade now,” he thought to himself.</p>
<p>He whipped it out and was about to use it, when Ventus seemingly out of nowhere came soaring in and crashed into Luxu, sending Luxu flying in the opposite direction. “No!” Ventus shouted.</p>
<p>“Well, it’s about time you showed up!” Isa grumbled. “And who were you saying ‘No’ to anyway – me or Luxu?”</p>
<p>“You!” Ventus exclaimed. “I don’t have to remind you that killing him with your Keyblade would only bring him right back, do I?”</p>
<p>“Oh.” It was true that Isa really had forgotten that using the Keyblade of Light would only release his heart to Kingdom Hearts, which would make a resurrection possible. “Well, then what can we do if we can’t fight him? I don’t want to be chased forever.”</p>
<p>“Use <em>his</em> Keyblade,” Ventus explained. “The power of Darkness would vanquish his own heart.”</p>
<p>“Oh, well that makes total sense. There’s just one problem: How exactly are we supposed to wrestle his own Keyblade from him?”</p>
<p>Ventus gave Isa a knowing look. “Leave that to me,” he said. As Luxu came barreling back towards Isa, Ventus suddenly shouted tauntingly, “Hey, Braig! You know that Xehanort has always been better than you!”</p>
<p>Luxu stopped and turned to Ventus, somewhat annoyed. “I told you my name is Luxu. Braig is just a role I played.”</p>
<p>“So you’re telling me that after a thousand years, the best you can come up with is being second fiddle to a guy you don’t even respect?” Ventus scoffed.</p>
<p>“I never played second fiddle to <em>anyone</em>!” Luxu retorted vehemently.</p>
<p>“Oh no? Then how come you were only <em>Number 2</em> in the Organization?”</p>
<p>Ventus saw Luxu’s nostrils flare as he was getting increasingly agitated. “You <em>odious</em> boy!” Luxu growled. "I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not working! As far as I’m concerned, I’ve already won! You want to kill me? I’ll just return. You want to destroy Kingdom Hearts? Then you’ll have to say good-bye to your friends forever, which I know you won’t!”</p>
<p>“For a winner, you sure don’t act like one!” Ventus jeered. “And just because you figured out my motives, it does not make my opinions any less genuine. Xehanort may have been a terrible person, but he was a good master, and he taught me well. But my memories of you are so much less flattering. All I can remember is you kissing up to him, like some kind of dopey sidekick!”</p>
<p>“He would’ve never had funding for his projects if it weren’t for me!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Say whatever you want to make yourself feel better. Screw what anyone else thinks! Or, if you do care, you can prove me fatally wrong!”</p>
<p>“Says the guy who tried to attack me from behind!” Luxu smirked.</p>
<p>“I’ll fight you, fair and square! A duel! On the ground. I’ll show you what Xehanort taught me, and you can prove to me who really is better!”</p>
<p>Luxu grinned maliciously. “All right, you’re on!”</p>
<p>Back on the ground, the two produced their respective Keyblades, slashing furiously at one another. Luxu was more aggressive in his approach, coming in fast and striking as hard as he could. Ventus proved to be more agile, as he blocked attacks, side-stepped Luxu’s advances, and jumped out of the way. During one of those maneuvers, Ventus mistimed a dodge and ended up being struck so forcefully on the face, he fell several feet away. He flipped around on his back to face Luxu, who was now quickly advancing towards Ventus with his Keyblade squarely pointing at Ventus’ chest. Ventus took his own Keyblade and smacked Luxu’s as hard as he could. As Ventus had hoped, Luxu’s Keyblade flew right out of his hand. In sheer panic, Luxu raced after his Keyblade, but Isa happened to be closer to it and grabbed it first. Isa held it so that the tip was pointing towards Luxu, and the blade ran right through him just before Luxu realized what was happening. Luxu looked at Isa in bewilderment and then looked down to see his own Keyblade lodged into his chest. He staggered away from Isa, grasping at the handle of his Keyblade as he struggled to pull it out, but the pain was so unbearable that he just left it there and collapsed on the ground. He saw that the eye of his blade had closed. “You too, Blade?” Luxu managed before taking his final breath. A dark portal formed underneath him, causing the Darkness to consume him before evaporating completely.</p>
<p>At this point, Ventus rejoined Isa. “The oldest trick in the book is also the most effective one,” Ventus stated matter-of-factly. “Pride comes before the fall.”</p>
<p>“Provoking someone like that – how uncharacteristically vicious of you, Ven,” Isa remarked wryly.</p>
<p>Ventus grinned in response. “It’s not that hard; and anyway, I’ve seen you and Lea do that to each other a number of times over the years.”</p>
<p>“Yeah…” Isa had almost forgotten that Lea had plunged himself into the Darkness. Ventus and Isa returned to the dark portal that had formed when Sora died. The fact that it remained open meant that there was still light in there, and hence someone was still alive. Isa used his Keyblade to produce a light beam and peered in. It seemed that the light he had produced was not strong enough to penetrate the depths of the Darkness.</p>
<p>“Isa, I think Lea is still in there because he can’t see his way out,” Ventus expressed with apprehension.</p>
<p>“So now what do we do?”</p>
<p>“Well, the way I see it, we have two options: we can do nothing and just assume that he will eventually find his way out on his own; or we can destroy Kingdom Hearts – again – which would allow for an explosion bright enough that he can see. This, however, would also cause the portal to close, and all we can do is hope that he gets out fast enough before that happens.”</p>
<p>“How are those even choices?” Isa exclaimed angrily.</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“Okay, let me put it this way: Would you live in constant torture if it means the survival of your friends? It’s kind of like that! Make a choice – live in torture, or let your friends die.”</p>
<p>“Oh. I see what you mean. But you did not take into account another aspect of that scenario: Would your friends even <em>want</em> to live knowing that their survival would mean your suffering?”</p>
<p>“I guess they’d be lousy friends to even put you in that kind of position to begin with.”</p>
<p>Isa and Ventus continued to look down into the portal, although they did not know what they expected to see. “Lea would expire first before he would ever let them go,” Ventus sighed. “I know what to do.”</p>
<p>“So do I.”</p>
<p>They turned to the newly formed Kingdom Hearts. It was like a small young star in the perpetual daytime sky, with all the chaotic energy that such stars typically possess. Isa and Ventus pointed their Keyblades at Kingdom Hearts, shooting forth a beam of light. At first, it slowly started to crumble. Then, as it was cracked in half, its disintegration became more rapid, and Kingdom Hearts collapsed into itself. Its eventual total collapse caused an explosion. They did not remember the knock back, but rather their last recollection was that everything turned white.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Resurrection</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lea escapes the Realm of Darkness with everyone.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The explosion was so massive, that even Lea and Kairi felt a slight rumbling. “What was that?” Kairi asked in a state of panic.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Lea replied in a calmer tone. He created an opening through the top of his wings to look out and gasped. To his elation, there was a small speck of light. “They did it!” he cried excitedly. “Okay, hold on.”</p>
<p>Before Kairi was able to ask what she was supposed to hold on to, Lea unfurled his wings and made a mad dash toward the light. Kairi was not sure how fast they were going. The only thing she knew was that she could not move, like she was being held down. When she looked up, she noticed that the small speck of light was rapidly getting bigger but then all of a sudden it was just as quickly getting smaller. She wanted to say something to Lea, to perhaps slow down or be careful, but she could not even breathe let alone speak. They were moving so fast, that Kairi was afraid that they were going to crash into something any minute now. As the light continued to get smaller, they themselves were moving even faster so that at one point it looked like the light was getting bigger but then stayed the same only to once again get smaller. Just when they were about to find themselves back in the heavy cloak of Darkness, they burst forth through the light. It reminded Kairi of the time they were knocked back and engulfed by waves, only this time everything turned white.</p>
<p>When Kairi came to, she opened her eyes to a bright daytime sky. At first she thought that she was back home at Destiny Islands, but then she remembered the Final World, and when she turned her head to the side, she saw that, yes, everything around her looked like a daytime sky. She immediately sat up when she saw Riku and Sora lying next to her. “Riku! Sora!” she cried.</p>
<p>Riku slowly opened his eyes. He barely remembered what happened. One minute he saw Luxu’s condemning expression and the next he was enveloped in Darkness. He had killed Sora! He shot up in a state of wild disorientation as he looked around him and saw Sora right next to him. With Kingdom Hearts having disappeared, Sora’s heart had nowhere to go, and so it returned to him. Riku scrambled over to Sora and wasted no time shaking him. “Sora, wake up!”</p>
<p>“What?!” Sora cried out in alarm as his eyes flew open. “What’s going on?”</p>
<p>Riku felt so deliriously happy that he started laughing. “You’re alive again!” Riku exclaimed. Kairi quickly rejoined them. “But I don’t understand,” Riku said to Kairi. “The last thing I remembered, we were consumed by Darkness.”</p>
<p>“It’s Lea – he got us out,” Kairi said. As she explained what happened, they looked around to find where Lea had gone and saw that he was standing around with Ventus and Isa, deliberating on what to do about the Book of Prophecies. They no longer had wings and were back to their human forms.</p>
<p>“We tried destroying it with our Keyblade,” Ventus said, “but the light just deflected off of it.”</p>
<p>“Well, we’ll need it to leave this place, so I’m glad you didn’t do that,” Lea replied. “Once we’re back though, maybe I’ll just bury it in my basement somewhere.”</p>
<p>“The Keyblade with the Gazing Eye was destroyed,” Isa commented. “The eye even closed when Luxu died.”</p>
<p>“Ugh,” Lea groaned in revulsion. “At least that’s one thing I don’t have to take back with me. Its sole purpose was to see the future and make sure everything goes according to what was written about future events.”</p>
<p>Just then, Sora ran up to them as Riku and Kairi followed behind. “You’re an angel of Darkness?” Sora exclaimed to Lea.</p>
<p>“No, Sora, I’m human, but I <em>was</em> one some thousand years ago. You’re little stunt with Kingdom Hearts allowed me to revert back to that form with the Book of Prophecies.”</p>
<p>“What exactly did you write?” Ventus asked.</p>
<p>“Oh, that. Well, you know how Luxu said that Kingdom Hearts all started because the spirits of the Realm of Darkness made a deal to return a person in exchange for another life to create Kingdom Hearts? After the first Kingdom Hearts was destroyed and a second one was created, I figured that was not part of the original deal. So I restarted everything, but this time, no deals needed to be made. On behalf of the Darkness, I brought them back on my own.” Lea turned to Sora and Riku, “In other words, you’re off the hook.”</p>
<p>“Lea, I don’t know what to say,” Riku replied in amazement, “except, thank you.”</p>
<p>“That wasn’t a hard decision on my part. If I had to do it all over again, I would. I will always be there to bring you back.”</p>
<p>“So I guess we really are friends,” Sora concluded happily.</p>
<p>Lea grinned at Sora. “Yeah, we’re friends.”</p>
<p>“That means you can’t be a stranger. You really need to see us again sometime.”</p>
<p>“Okay.”</p>
<p>Everyone gathered together as they prepared to leave the Final World. Lea opened up the latter end of the Book of Prophecies, which was the Tome of the Unknown. It materialized everyone back to Isa’s place, as if they had never left, although the truth was, they were all very much changed.</p>
<p>After Riku, Sora, and Kairi returned to Destiny Islands, Sora took a look around and stretched. “Well, we’re back,” he said simply.</p>
<p>“You’re home,” Kairi replied.</p>
<p>xXx</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0031"><h2>31. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lea, Isa, and Ventus return to Twilight Mansion to take care of old business.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lea, Isa, and Ventus later returned to Twilight Mansion, where Isa and Ventus decided to break the news to Lea about Xion’s fate. They were all in her room, where Ventus had left her in her bed. Lea studied the large gash on her chest with disgust.</p><p>“You see, Lea, I found her like that, together with the Tome of the Past,” Ventus began by way of explanation.</p><p>“Ven’s lying to cover for me,” Isa interjected flatly. “It was I who actually found her like that, in my office.” Ventus shot Isa a dirty look.</p><p>Lea regarded them both with contempt. “You know, somehow I feel like I can never have nice things. Anything I create just gets destroyed.”</p><p>“It’s not like this is our fault that happened to her,” Isa insisted.</p><p>“No, but somehow I feel like this would not have happened under my watch.”</p><p>Isa returned Ventus a knowing look.</p><p>“Gee, Lea, you sure are taking this a lot better than I thought you would,” Ventus commented cautiously.</p><p>“Yeah, well, to be honest with you, before all of this stuff with Braig happened, I had something I wanted to give her. A part of me hopes that it might help her now.”</p><p>“Oh? What is it?”</p><p>“It’s in the basement. If you want, you can come.”</p><p>Lea took Xion to the basement as Isa and Ventus followed. After laying Xion on his work table, he went over to a toolbox and pulled something out. It was a locket, the shape of a heart.</p><p>“That’s… lovely, Lea, but what is it supposed to do?” Ventus inquired.</p><p>“Don’t you recognize it? It’s the same kind of locket Xehanort used when he took possession of the Organization members during the Keyblade War. A few years back, when we were still in the Organization, and you had left, I found it in your room. I took some shavings from the conch shell and placed it inside since she told me her heart was in my memories.”</p><p>Ventus took the locket and examined it. He saw that there was a little inscription on it. He read it aloud: “You are real, Xion.”</p><p>“Why, Ven, how awfully sweet of you,” Isa teased.</p><p>Ventus returned the locket to Lea. “I wish I can take credit, but I didn’t do it. Now that I think about it, this was all that was left of her when she returned to Sora. I guess I forgot about it.”</p><p>Lea turned inquiringly to Isa, who only shrugged. Lea placed the locket inside Xion’s chest and then hoisted the light ray gun over his shoulder and used it to mend the wound. When he was finished, all three of them peered down and waited anxiously to see if Lea’s experiment had any effect. They only had to wait a few seconds before Xion’s eyes flew open as she gasped loudly for air. It was so sudden, that they all leaped back. Xion sat up in bewilderment as she looked at her equally startled companions. “What is it?” she asked.</p><p>“Oh, nothing,” Ventus managed. “It’s just that… you’re alive again.”</p><p>“Again?” Xion scanned her memories and slowly recalled her confrontation with Braig in Radiant Garden. “Oh, that’s right… now I remember. Braig used my own Keyblade to pull something out of me. A book?”</p><p>“The Tome of the Past?” Isa suggested.</p><p>“Was that what it was?”</p><p>“How did he know it would come out of you?”</p><p>“I don’t know. Maybe because all we have left of the past is our memories. He told me<em> I</em> was just a memory, an illusion. It got me angry, and I produced a Keyblade because of it.”</p><p>“Braig was a jerk,” Lea grumbled. “And anyway, I’ve told you before that you’re not an illusion.”</p><p>“Oh, I know,” Xion replied thoughtfully. “No one needs to tell me who I am, because I already know. A long time ago, before developing a full sense of awareness, I had this locket, you see, and someone telling me not to doubt what was written on it. I’ve had it since my days at the Organization, but I don’t know where it is now. I think I lost it.”</p><p>“No, you didn’t. I put it inside of you.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“The locket. I put it inside of you just now. That’s how you came back to life.”</p><p>Xion quickly placed her hand against her chest and listened. “It’s my heart!” she cried, her eyes widened with excitement.</p><p>“What?” Lea said in confusion. Xion grabbed his hand and pressed it firmly against her chest. After a few moments, Lea’s eyes also widened. “Xion… I can feel your heartbeat.”</p><p>“I’m just like you guys now!” Although Xion had accepted the fact that she was not human, she was grateful to know that by the will of her friends, she was able to come back. It was truly a marvel what kinds of miracles can take place, even without Kingdom Hearts.</p><p> </p><p>THE END</p>
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